French writers and artists had strong views about the Commune.
Gustave Courbet was the most prominent artist to take part in the Commune, and was an enthusiastic participant and supporter, though he criticised its executions of suspected enemies.
On the other side, the young Anatole France described the Commune as "A committee of assassins, a band of hooligans [fripouillards], a government of crime and madness."
The diarist Edmond de Goncourt, wrote, three days after La Semaine Sanglante, "...the bleeding has been done thoroughly, and a bleeding like that, by killing the rebellious part of a population, postpones the next revolution... The old society has twenty years of peace before it..."
On 23 April, George Sand, an ardent republican who had taken part in the 1848 revolution, wrote "The horrible adventure continues.
They ransom, they threaten, they arrest, they judge.
They have taken over all the city halls, all the public establishments, they’re pillaging the munitions and the food supplies."
Soon after the Commune began, Gustave Flaubert wrote to Sand, "Austria did not go into Revolution after Sadowa, nor Italy after Novara, nor Russia after Sebastopol!
But our good Frenchmen hasten to pull down their house as soon as the chimney takes fire..." Near the end of the Commune, Flaubert wrote to her again, "As for the Commune, which is about to die out, it is the last manifestation of the Middle Ages."
On 10 June, when the Commune was finished, Flaubert wrote to Sand:
I come from Paris, and I do not know whom to speak to.
I am suffocated.
I am quite upset, or rather out of heart.
The sight of the ruins is nothing compared to the great Parisian insanity.
With very rare exceptions, everybody seemed to me only fit for the strait-jacket.
One half of the population longs to hang the other half, which returns the compliment.
That is clearly to be read in the eyes of the passers-by.

Victor Hugo blamed Thiers for his short-sightedness.
At the news that the government had failed to have the cannons seized he wrote in his diary, "He touched off the fuse to the powder keg.
Thiers is premeditated thoughtlessness."
 On the other hand, he was critical of the Commune but sympathetic to the Communards.
At the beginning of April, he moved to Brussels to take care of the family of his son, who had just died.
On 9 April, he wrote, "In short, this Commune is as idiotic as the National Assembly is ferocious.
From both sides, folly."
He wrote poems that criticized both the government and the Commune's policy of taking hostages for reprisals, and condemned the destruction of the Vendôme Column.
On 25 May, during the Bloody Week, he wrote: "A monstrous act; they’ve set fire to Paris.
They’ve been searching for firemen as far away as Brussels."
But after the repression, he offered to give sanctuary to members of the Commune, which, he said, "was barely elected, and of which I never approved."
He became the most vocal advocate of an amnesty for exiled Communards, finally granted in the 1880s.

Émile Zola, as a journalist for Le Sémaphore de Marseille, reported on the fall of the Commune, and was one of the first reporters to enter the city during Bloody Week.
On 25 May he reported: "Never in civilised times has such a terrible crime ravaged a great city... The men of the Hotel de Ville could not be other than assassins and arsonists.
They were beaten and fled like robbers from the regular army, and took vengeance upon the monuments and houses.... The fires of Paris have pushed over the limit the exasperation of the army. ...
Those who burn and who massacre merit no other justice than the gunshot of a soldier."
But on 1 June, when the fighting was over, his tone had changed, "The court martials are still meeting and the summary executions continue, less numerous, it's true.
The sound of firing squads, which one still hears in the mournful city, atrociously prolongs the nightmare ... Paris is sick of executions.
It seems to Paris that they're shooting everyone.
Paris is not complaining about the shooting of the members of the Commune, but of innocent
French writers and artists had strong views about the Commune. Gustave Courbet was the most prominent artist to take part in the Commune, and was an enthusiastic participant and supporter, though he criticised its executions of suspected enemies. On the other side, the young Anatole France described the Commune as "A committee of assassins, a band of hooligans [fripouillards], a government of crime and madness." The diarist Edmond de Goncourt, wrote, three days after La Semaine Sanglante, "...the bleeding has been done thoroughly, and a bleeding like that, by killing the rebellious part of a population, postpones the next revolution... The old society has twenty years of peace before it..."
On 23 April, George Sand, an ardent republican who had taken part in the 1848 revolution, wrote "The horrible adventure continues. They ransom, they threaten, they arrest, they judge. They have taken over all the city halls, all the public establishments, they’re pillaging the munitions and the food supplies." Soon after the Commune began, Gustave Flaubert wrote to Sand, "Austria did not go into Revolution after Sadowa, nor Italy after Novara, nor Russia after Sebastopol! But our good Frenchmen hasten to pull down their house as soon as the chimney takes fire..." Near the end of the Commune, Flaubert wrote to her again, "As for the Commune, which is about to die out, it is the last manifestation of the Middle Ages." On 10 June, when the Commune was finished, Flaubert wrote to Sand:
I come from Paris, and I do not know whom to speak to. I am suffocated. I am quite upset, or rather out of heart. The sight of the ruins is nothing compared to the great Parisian insanity. With very rare exceptions, everybody seemed to me only fit for the strait-jacket. One half of the population longs to hang the other half, which returns the compliment. That is clearly to be read in the eyes of the passers-by.
Victor Hugo blamed Thiers for his short-sightedness. At the news that the government had failed to have the cannons seized he wrote in his diary, "He touched off the fuse to the powder keg. Thiers is premeditated thoughtlessness."  On the other hand, he was critical of the Commune but sympathetic to the Communards. At the beginning of April, he moved to Brussels to take care of the family of his son, who had just died. On 9 April, he wrote, "In short, this Commune is as idiotic as the National Assembly is ferocious. From both sides, folly." He wrote poems that criticized both the government and the Commune's policy of taking hostages for reprisals, and condemned the destruction of the Vendôme Column. On 25 May, during the Bloody Week, he wrote: "A monstrous act; they’ve set fire to Paris. They’ve been searching for firemen as far away as Brussels." But after the repression, he offered to give sanctuary to members of the Commune, which, he said, "was barely elected, and of which I never approved." He became the most vocal advocate of an amnesty for exiled Communards, finally granted in the 1880s.
Émile Zola, as a journalist for Le Sémaphore de Marseille, reported on the fall of the Commune, and was one of the first reporters to enter the city during Bloody Week. On 25 May he reported: "Never in civilised times has such a terrible crime ravaged a great city... The men of the Hotel de Ville could not be other than assassins and arsonists. They were beaten and fled like robbers from the regular army, and took vengeance upon the monuments and houses.... The fires of Paris have pushed over the limit the exasperation of the army. ...Those who burn and who massacre merit no other justice than the gunshot of a soldier." But on 1 June, when the fighting was over, his tone had changed, "The court martials are still meeting and the summary executions continue, less numerous, it's true. The sound of firing squads, which one still hears in the mournful city, atrociously prolongs the nightmare ... Paris is sick of executions. It seems to Paris that they're shooting everyone. Paris is not complaining about the shooting of the members of the Commune, but of innocent
Paris Commune