By the mid-nineteenth century, Paris was expanding rapidly as industrialization drew waves of new workers to the city. Yet the growth outpaced infrastructure: inadequate housing, roads, and sanitation led to repeated outbreaks of disease and frequent uprisings. In response, Baron Georges-Eugène Haussmann launched a sweeping urban renewal project, later known as “Haussmanniza tion.”

Narrow, winding, and unsanitary streets were replaced with broad boulevards radiating from public squares, elegant new buildings, and ample parks and green spaces that redefined the city as a healthier, more breathable environment. Painters recorded this transformed Paris: leisurely promenades along the boulevards, views across the bridges of the Seine, and bustling squares at midday became defining images of modern urban life.