Boston Book Festival

We are delighted to welcome Pulitzer Prize-winning art critic, Sebastian Smee, for a presentation and interview about Paris in Ruins: Love, War, and the Birth of Impressionism, which Kirkus Reviews called a “deft, vibrant cultural history.” Smee describes in vivid language how the Impressionist movement was born against a backdrop of violence, civil war, and political intrigue that followed the French defeat by the Germans and the rise of a radical, breakaway Commune in 1870-71. Central to the story is the love affair between Édouard Manet and the woman who was at the heart of the movement, Berthe Morisot. The upheaval around these artists gave them a keen sense of the impermanence and transience of all things, which was reflected in their groundbreaking art. Sebastian Smee will be joined by Jared Bowen, host of Open Studio on GBH. This session is sponsored through the generosity of Ann and Graham Gund.