Il 15 April 1874, an exhibition of the “Anonymous Society of Painters, Sculptors, Engravers, etc.” opened at photographer Nadar's Paris studio on the Boulevard des Capucines.
It was a defiant response to the official, government-sponsored annual exhibition known as the Paris Salon. The first exhibition of these Société anonyme artists included works by Claude Monet, Auguste Renoir, Edgar Degas, Berthe Morisot, Camille Pissarro, Alfred Sisley and Paul Cézanne, later known as Impressionists. This now legendary event is often considered the birth of modernist painting and remains a key moment in the history of Western art.
What happened in Paris in the spring of 1874 and what meaning can we attribute to the birth of this artistic movement?
The works exhibited at the first Impressionist exhibition will be put into perspective alongside the paintings and sculptures exhibited at the official Salon of 1874. This unprecedented juxtaposition will help us understand the visual shock that visitors experienced when they first encountered the works of the impressionists.
The exhibition will also explore the circumstances that led more than 30 artists to challenge the official Salon system, with its judges, awards and government approval, by showing their art independently. At the time, France was struggling to recover from defeat in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871, the Siege of Paris, and the violence of the Civil War. In the wake of these crises, artists have rethought their art, discovered their voices, and explored new directions.
Yearning for autonomy and challenging an academic system who often rejected them, Monet, Degas, Morisot, Pissarro and their colleagues united as société anonyme coopérative, an “anonymous cooperative company”. They exhibited their work in the heart of Paris, in a photographer's studio. Scenes of modern life and outdoor landscapes were displayed alongside more conventional paintings, engravings and sculptures. It represented a common desire to pursue art without the constraints of the established order.
Auguste Renoir, “The Theater Box” 1874
The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)
Photo © Courtauld
This order will be evoked with a selection of paintings and sculptures of the official Salon, which will be held in the imposing Palais de l'Industrie
This annual event, the highlight of the season, featured meticulously crafted mythological, religious, and historical paintings that received government and academic approval. Comparisons between the first Impressionist exhibition and the Salon will give us a new look at the artistic divisions of the time.
What made it so different and specific?
These questions led Louis Leroy, one of the critics of the first exhibition, to coin the term “impressionist” – originally intended sarcastically – to describe an artistic movement that would reshape our understanding of modern art. A century and a half after its appearance, it is time to take stock of impressionism and re-examine its radicalism.
Paris 1874: The Impressionist Moment would include works displayed in Nadar's studio, as well as paintings and sculptures by established artists such as Jean-Léon Gérôme and Antonin Mercié, celebrated at that year's Salon. Modern Paris, with its newly built streets and avenues, entertainment venues and shows, will also be evoked through the works of Renoir, Degas, Monet, Eva Gonzalès and Édouard Manet, exhibited at the first Impressionist exhibition or presented at the Salon . Works by lesser-known Impressionists and Salon artists will also be included, some of them recently rediscovered and exhibited for the first time in this context. In the end, the exhibition will present Monet's Impression, Sunrise (Impression, soleil levant), a fundamental painting in the history of Impressionism.
