A fascinating evening of art and history with Pulitzer Prize-winning art critic Sebastian Smee. The Washington Post writer discusses his new book Paris in Ruins: Love, War and the Birth of Impressionism with curator and Vault editor Alison Kubler. 

Impressionism was a complex reaction to 1870, otherwise known as 'The Terrible Year’. Fighting a losing war with Prussia, Napoleon III was swiftly defeated, deposed and exiled. A fledging republican government came to power at the same time as Paris entered a long siege. Rebellion, starvation and horrific violence ensued.

Smee tells this story through the eyes of key artists, with a special focus on the intimate, enigmatic relationship between Manet and Morisot. Paris in Ruins is both an indelible portrait of the city and of modern art.