Background In mid-19th century France, artists depended on public exhibitions to connect them with patrons willing to buy their artworks. The most prestigious exhibition was the
Salon in Paris. From the earliest Salons in the 17th century until the
French Revolution in 1789, only members of the
Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture were permitted to exhibit artworks. Following the revolution and the abolishment of the Royal Academy in 1791, non-member artists were permitted to exhibit artworks in the Salon. With the exception of a short period of a few years following the
French Revolution of 1848, the artworks displayed at the Salon were chosen by a jury consisting of members of the
Académie des Beaux-Arts. Being accepted to the Salon was vital for artists because the jury's decision affected the public's perception of artworks. Paintings that had been accepted by the Salon were more likely to sell, and the public would often refuse to purchase paintings that had been rejected. Patrons would sometimes even return paintings that had been purchased beforehand if they had been rejected by the jury. Artists who were rejected by the jury often complained about corruption and unfairness. Disagreements among artists with the official standards of the Salon and the
Académie des Beaux-Arts would lead to artists seeking alternative venues for promoting their art. The Salon of 1863 was particularly controversial with artists. A new rule was established that limited artists to three artworks each. The jury was also stricter than it had been in previous years, rejecting three-fifths of all submissions. Even artists who had been regularly admitted were rejected.
Louis Martinet, who had previously displayed artworks rejected from the Salon in his gallery, did not have room to host all of the rejected artists. After hearing about the controversy,
Emperor Napoleon III visited
Palais de l'Industrie where the Salon was to be held and consulted with the president of the jury. Two days later, it was announced that there would be a second elective Salon, a
Salon des Refusés ("Salon of the Refused"), to exhibit the rejected artworks.
by Édouard Manet, exhibited at the Salon des Refusés'' in 1863. The artwork to attract the most visitors at the
Salon des Refusés was the painting ''
Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe by Édouard Manet. Manet had painted it specifically for the Salon, and had hoped that it would bring him success. When it was rejected, Manet chose to display it at the Salon des Refusés
in hopes that the public would side with him against the jury and prove the jury wrong. The painting proved to be controversial with among critics. Many critics criticized it for the indecency of its subject matter. Manet was also widely criticized for painting technique, which some critics considered sloppy. Despite this criticism, other critics lauded his technique, and described it as "fresh" and "lively". The scandal surrounding Édouard Manet and the Salon des Refusés'' brought several younger artists into his social circle. '' by
Henri Fantin-Latour Manet was a frequent visitor at the
Café Guerbois, located at 11 Grande rue des Batignolles in Paris. There he regularly met with many of his admirers, friends, and fellow artists. Some of the artists that regularly visited the café were Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir,
Frédéric Bazille, Edgar Degas, Camille Pissarro, and Paul Cézanne.
Émile Zola and
Edmond Maître were also occasional visitors. The famous photographer Gaspard-Félix Tournachon, better known by his pseudonym
Nadar, also sometimes visited the café. The artists that frequented the Café Guerbois called themselves the
Batignolles group. They chose to refer to themselves as a "group" rather than a "
school" because, although they all had contempt for "official art", they all sought their own directions. The members of the Batignolles group had differing opinions about the Salon. Manet and Renoir believed that the Salon offered them the best chance at gaining recognition. Cézanne, on the other hand, believed that they should always submit their most "offensive" pictures to the Salon as a means of challenging established customs. Despite their differing views, the members of the Batignolles group regularly submitted their artworks to that annual Salon. All members of the group except for Cézanne had been accepted into the Salon at least once.
The Exhibition of the Impressionists Claude Monet and Frédéric Bazille first proposed that the Batignolles group hold their own exhibition at their own expense in 1867. The group was unable to hold an exhibition then due to a lack of funds. Following the Salon of 1873 and the
Exposition artisique des oeuvres refusées, a second
Salon des Refusés, Monet once again proposed that the group hold their own exhibition. Bazille, who had died in the
Franco-Prussian War in 1870, did not live to participate in the exhibition that he and Monet had once envisioned. Edgar Degas expressed concern that if the exhibition consisted only of members of their own group, their exhibition might be seen by the public and critics as being put on by
refusés and suggested that they invite outside artists and artists who had previously had success in the salon. Some of the artists thought that inviting outsiders would change the character of the exhibition. Pierre-Auguste Renoir endorsed Degas's plan to invite outside artists, as a greater number of participating artists would result in a lower cost to each artist. The rest then agreed to Degas's plan. Some of the members of the group opposed Cézanne's participation in the exhibition, however they agreed after Monet supported his participation. Manet would ultimately not participate in the exhibition. He once told the others that it was because he would never participate in an exhibition with Cézanne, however, his main reason was that believed that the only way to succeed was to succeed at the Salon. in Paris by Claude Monet, painted from the window in Nadar's studio. The other version of this painting was featured in the first Impressionist Exhibition. For the location of the group exhibition, Manet suggest the studio of the photographer Félix Nadar at 35 Boulevard des Capucines, which was sometimes rented out for concerts or lectures. Nadar had recently vacated his studio for a larger one at 51 rue d'Anjou nearby, so it was available for the group to use. Nadar's studio was on the second floor of the building. A staircase led up to a series of large rooms on two floors which received light from the windows. While Nadar preferred more tradition styles of art, he sympathized with the group's anti-establishment stance. In 2024, from March 26th to July 14th, the
Musée d'Orsay held an exhibition titled
Paris 1874: Inventing Impressionism to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the First Impressionist Exhibition. The exhibition featured many of the works that were featured in the First Impressionist Exhibition alongside many works that were featured in the Paris Salon of the same year. The goal of the exhibition was to recreate the visual shock that contemporary viewers would have experienced at seeing the Impressionist works for the first time by showing Impressionist artworks alongside Salon artworks. The same exhibition, under the name
Paris 1874: The Impressionist Moment, was shown at the
National Gallery of Art in
Washington, D.C. from September 8, 2024 through January 19, 2025. == Reception ==