In Shocking Paris, acclaimed journalist and art critic Stanley Meisler traces the lives and work of a remarkable group of émigré artists—many of them Jewish—who found refuge, identity, and artistic freedom in the bohemian neighborhood of Montparnasse in early 20th-century Paris. At the center of this vivid and deeply researched narrative is Chaïm Soutine, the tempestuous and tormented painter whose expressionist canvases shocked the French art world—and helped shape modern art.

Alongside Soutine, Meisler illuminates the paths of other “outsiders” including Marc Chagall, Amedeo Modigliani, Jules Pascin, and others of the so-called École de Paris, many of whom were Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe. Fleeing pogroms, poverty, and antisemitism, these artists found in Paris not only a sanctuary but a crucible of creativity. Together, they challenged aesthetic norms and laid the groundwork for the bold experimentation that would define 20th-century modernism.

Meisler combines art history with political insight, weaving in the rising tides of fascism and xenophobia in France, and the tragic wartime fates that awaited many of these artists. Shocking Paris is as much a story of artistic innovation as it is a testament to cultural survival and exile. Essential reading for lovers of modern art, Jewish cultural history, and anyone interested in the forces that shaped creativity and identity in a Europe on the brink.