More than other painters, the Impressionists wanted to shake off the dust of the studio, and swarmed the noisy streets of Paris, filling the cafés and living in garrets and humble little dwellings on the hill of Montmartre, which still seemed like the countryside at the time, its slopes covered with vineyards and vegetable gardens. Nor did they limit themselves to the city, planting their easels in the clearings of the forest of Fontainebleau, on the coast of Normandy, in the rustic villages in the Oise Valley and in Bougival and Argenteuil on the banks of the Seine. Like their Naturalist friends Zola and Maupassant, they liked to mix with the locals so they could experience the places directly, painting everywhere, even on a boat, like the one where Monet had his floating studio. SELLING POINTS: . Plenty of visual and textual content at an affordable price . 150th anniversary of the first Impressionists' exhibition at Nadar's studio . Comparisons between the paintings and historical photographs of the same places . The author is a journalist, specialised in reviews of exhibits and art books . Maps of Paris and its surroundings, city entries are followed by the address to facilitate visit . With many literary quotes from 19th-century novels and periodicals, cartoons . It brings back to life the gawdy, brilliant Paris of the impressionists 110 colour, 99 b/w illustrations