|
What is the Salon des Refusés ?
The Salon des Refusés (Salon of the Rejected) was an art exhibition in Paris.
In the 1860s, artists of the nascent realist and impressionist movements submitted over 4000 works to the Salon de Paris, the official exhibition sponsored by the Académie des Beaux-arts, only to be rejected. The resultant complaints of bias and the immense attention from the press led French emperor Napoleon III to allow the rejected works to be displayed in a separate exhibition. It is said that he walked past the rejected paintings and said 'I don't see a difference'. And so the Salon des Refusés was born.
The first Salon des Refusés in 1863 invited art-works rejected for display at the Salon de Paris.
With over 4000 works from 687 artists the Salon des Refusés was considered to be of low quality. The two paintings who were ridiculed the most were Édouard Manet's "Le déjeuner sur l'herbe" (The Luncheon on the Grass) and James Abbott McNeill Whistler's "The White Girl". It is important to note that back then these paintings were very unconventional, something that hasn't been seen before. Today these paintings are symbols of that time and remain absolute masterpieces.
Other famous artists who showed at the Salon des Refusés include Henri Fantin-Latour, Paul Cézanne, Armand Guillaumin, Johan Jongkind, and Camille Pissarro, Edgar Degas, Berthe Morisot and many more.
Salon des Refusés was held in 1874, 1875 and 1886. In 1881 the government withdrew official sponsorship, and a group of artists organised the Société des Artistes Français to take responsibility for the Salon de Paris.
Back to Impressionism...
|
|
