From the summer of 1870 to the spring of 1871, famously dubbed the "Terrible Year" by Victor Hugo, Paris and its people were besieged, starved, and forced into surrender by Germans--then imperiled again as radical republicans established a breakaway Commune, ultimately crushed by the French Army after bloody street battles and the burning of central Paris. As renowned art critic Sebastian Smee shows, it was against the backdrop of these tumultuous...

"A group of young artists in 1874, in opposition to the established authority of the Salon and the Academy, decided to show their work directly to the public in an exhibition which they organized themselves. The artists forming the core of this group- Pissarro, Degas, Sisley, Cezanne, Monet, Renoir, and Morisot- came to be known as "the Impressionists". Seen to be following the independent spirit of Manet, they were immediately identified as the avant-garde...

The Impressionists -- Monet, Manet, Degas, Pissaro, Cassatt, Renoir, Morisot, Cézanne, and others -- are probably the most popular of all artistic schools. Their struggle to impose a new vision is one of the most absorbing in the whole history of art. Art historian Bernard Denvir brings Impressionism into focus with imagination and insight, through the words of the artists themselves and their contemporaries, against the background of their time....

The spectacular transformation of Paris during the nineteenth century into a city of tree-lined boulevards and public parks both redesigned the capital and inspired the era's great Impressionist artists. The renewed landscape gave crowded, displaced urban dwellers green spaces to enjoy, while suburbanites and country dwellers began cultivating their own flower gardens--trends that spread throughout Europe and even to America. As exotic botanical specimens...

Julie Manet, the niece of Edouard Manet and the most famous female Impressionist artist, Berthe Morisot, was born in Paris on 14th November 1878 into a wealthy and cultured milieu at the height of the Impressionist era. Many young girls still confide their inner thoughts to diaries and it is hardly surprising that, with her mother giving all her encouragement, Julie would prove to be no exception to the rule. At the age of ten, Julie began writing...

Examines the life and work of post-impressionist painter Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, featuring expert commentary and location footage.

Examines the life and work of post-impressionist painter Henri Rousseau, featuring expert commentary and location footage.