‘Astonishing. Heartstopping. A true story confined by two brutal years, and the walls of a great city under siege, which exults in love, courage, beauty, mischief and the mystery of human intimacy.’

‘Deft, vibrant cultural history.’

‘Its psychological insights into male friendship, ambition, ego and vulnerability make it a book as rich as a multi-layered cake.’

‘French Impressionist painting offers a vision of colour and light. And yet, there is an aspect to Impressionism that is dark, and that darkness is the preoccupation of this book. The rejection of authority of any kind as toxic was manifest in the way the Impressionists made their art. Paris in Ruins…well could change the way you think about Impressionism, and it might alter your perception of art history.’

‘Smee brings events to life vividly, with remarkable energy and insight…This raucous, layered and engrossing read left me reminded of the inseparable bond between politics and art.’

‘Very beautiful book. A marvellous mélange of military history, gossip, art criticism…The lot.’

‘Penetrating and arresting, Smee shows how the Paris Siege and the Paris Commune had an extensive effect on the history of art and how art can be inspired by disaster. For us artists and art lovers, this book is highly recommended.’

‘Smee has a gimlet eye, a seductive style and a novelist’s feel for character and incident…Deeply researched and suavely written…An inspiring book.’

‘Vibrant and incisive…Superb, scalp-tingling narration…Find[s] the luminosity at the movement’s heart and brilliantly [amplifies] it on the page.’

‘A wide-ranging work of cultural history.’

‘A story of staggering complexity and import…We have what may ultimately be regarded as [Smee’s] magnum opus, a work of art history that goes far beyond that remit…A fascinating story.’

‘Brilliant…Art and politics constantly collide in Smee’s pulsating narrative…Smee has a rare talent for painting word-pictures, notably in his superb descriptions of the salons, and a keen eye for revealing details…This is first-rate historical writing.’

‘A quite remarkable melange of art history, romance and political machinations…It was a vital, urgent time in Parisian history and Smee brings it vividly to life…Fascinating.’

‘4 stars. Readable and impeccably researched…For any lover of art history, it’s a compelling read…[An] outstanding achievement.’

‘Smee brings a fresh perspective by linking [the Siege of Paris and the Paris Commune] to the artistic development of Impressionism in general and of Manet and Morisot in particular…With exquisite sensitivity, he reads the similarities in [Manet and Morisot’s] work from this period…’

‘As for the larger story of the Impressionists, Smee suggests that their refusal to depict war may have constituted “a collective act of psychological repression” or “an assertion of pacific value as an antidote to violence and trauma”—or both…Better than reality, he argues, than the one that they and their compatriots had just endured.’

‘A precise, engrossing account of the artistic and military environment that preceded the emergence of the Impressionist movement.’

‘Detailed, lively and at times richly novelistic. Smee writes with both knowledge and panache, transmitting the sense of urgency and immediacy that animated the painters.’

‘Sebastian Smee explodes a tired chestnut about the Impressionists: that their works are merely pretty. Like a restorer scraping off layers of grime and dust, he restores colour and nuance and light, and performs the vital critical task of forcing us to look better and deeper at things we thought we already knew.’

‘The keynotes of Sebastian Smee’s criticism have always included a fine feeling for the what of art—he knows how to evoke the way pictures really strike the eye—and an equal sense of the how of art: how art emerges from the background of social history.’