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Presenting new material that will delight both newcomers and past attendees of the hit Curious Minds series Learning from Paris, Hot Docs favourite Lisa Pasold examines how scientists, artists, planners, philosophers and performers transformed Paris in the 19th century. We'll brood in gas-lit arcades with moody poet Paul Verlaine. We’ll tour the great fashion houses of the period with the Empress Eugenie. And we’ll stride through the city of the future with best-selling author Jules Verne. Explore how, in the span of a single century, a medieval city became one of the world’s most dynamic metropolises, setting a standard for style and sophistication that continues today.
Led by Lisa Pasold, a Governor General’s Award–nominated writer, journalist (The Globe and Mail, Chicago Tribune) and television host of Discovery World’s Paris Next Stop.
October 12: Inventing architecture
After the chaos of the French Revolution and Napoleon’s thrilling but disruptive reign, it is clear the city of Paris needs to be rebuilt. But how? A new emperor, Napoleon III, hires a workaholic Protestant named Baron Haussman to force through an immense plan of urban renewal—setting an urban standard of what we expect from a city.
October 19: Inventing science
Paris was at the cutting edge of medical science throughout the 19th century. We’ll drop by the Paris lab of Louis Pasteur, who revolutionized the field of microbiology. We’ll talk about the astonishing advances in children’s hospital care during this era and check out some of the radical doctors working in the City of Light. And we’ll wrap up this discovery-driven century with Marie Curie and her husband Pierre.
October 26: Inventing fashion
This week, we’ll admire the engineering, the chemistry and the marketing that went into the invention of couture during this period, making Paris the headquarters for Europe’s most illustrious fashion “houses”. We’ll examine how the city’s fashionistas flocked to the Paris Exhibitions to see and be seen in their best outfits, and how an Englishman named Charles Worth turned Empress Eugenie into an eye-popping clothes-horse whose outfits were reported across the Western World.
November 9: Inventing the body
Inspired by the radical shifts in science and society, Parisian artists rejected polished finishes and classical academic subjects in favour of emotional expression. We’ll look at Auguste Rodin’s radical sculptures and acrobat-turned painter Suzanne Valadon’s female nudes. And we’ll examine the artists that paved the way for 20th century greats like Pablo Picasso and Louise Bourgeois.
November 16: Inventing the spectacle
Performance in the 19th century became a city-wide social spectacle, and actors, dancers and musicians had to learn to exist in a new celebrity-driven culture—a situation all too familiar to us today! We’ll gossip in the foyer of the famous Paris Opera and meet the model for Edgar Degas' intriguing sculpture The Little 14-year-old Dancer. We’ll talk about Emma Calva’s use of method acting for Bizet’s Carmen, and marvel at the ingenious self-inventions of La Divine actress Sarah Bernhardt.
November 23: Inventing the image
From Daguerre to the Lumière Brothers, Paris helped put the world on film. We’ll drop by Louis Daguerre’s studio in Faubourg du Temple to discuss his famous saying, “I have seized the light.” We’ll talk about photography as a crucial evolving record of the century, with the intriguing selfies of the Countess di Castiglione. And we’ll conclude with (arguably) the 19th century’s greatest contribution to art: the invention of the movies!