Montmartre

In the second portrait of his series Great Parisian Neighborhoods, award-winning raconteur John Baxter leads us on a whirlwind tour of Montmartre, the hill-top village that fired the greatest achievements of modern art while also provoking bloody revolution and the sexual misbehavior that made Paris synonymous with sin

High on the northern edge of Paris, Montmartre has always attracted bohemians, political radicals, the searchers for artistic inspiration as well as those hungry for pleasure. In its winding, windmill-shadowed streets, which, only fifty years before, saw the anarchist rising of the Commune, Renoir, Picasso and van Gogh seized a similar freedom to remake painting, while, in the tenderloin of Pigalle, Toulouse-Lautrec drew the cancan dancers of the Moulin Rouge, celebrating a hedonism that titillated the world,

In Montmartre, bestselling author and IACP Award winner John Baxter lifts the curtain on a district that visitors to Paris seldom see.  From the tumbledown workshops of the Bateau Lavoir in which Picasso and Braque created Cubism to Clichy's Cabaret of Nothingness where guests dined at coffins under lamps of human bones, the whole of this mysterious enclave is ours to explore.

For visitors and armchair travelers alike, Montmartre captures the excitement and scandal of a fascinating quarter that condenses the elusive perfumes, colors and songs of Paris.

Baxter’s tour through the winding streets of the Belle Époque uncovers:

• Art and Revolution: Discover how the same hilltop village sparked both the anarchist rising of the Commune and the birth of Cubism in the tumbledown workshops of the Bateau Lavoir.
• Iconic Cabarets and Nightlife: From the cancan dancers of the Moulin Rouge drawn by Toulouse-Lautrec to the macabre Cabaret of Nothingness, explore the hedonism that made Paris synonymous with sin.
• La Vie de Bohème: Follow in the footsteps of Picasso, van Gogh, and Renoir as they seized artistic freedom in windmill-shadowed streets and argued art all night over cheap wine.
• A Cultural History: An impeccably researched journey that lifts the curtain on the scandals, passions, and historical forces that shaped this legendary Parisian neighborhood.