In the 1840s, Proust attended the Collège Rollin where he met lifelong friend Édouard Manet.
[1] In September 1850, Proust and Manet joined the studio of Thomas Couture for artistic training.
[2] In 1864, Proust founded an anti-imperial journal, La Semaine hebdomadaire which appeared in Brussels.
He was war correspondent for Le Temps in the early days of the Franco-Prussian War, but after the Battle of Sedan (1870) he returned to Paris, where he became secretary to Léon Gambetta and superintended the refugees in Paris.
[3] He entered the Chamber of Deputies as representative for his native town in 1876, taking his seat on the left.