Édouard Manet - Luncheon on the Grass - 1862–1863 - Oil on canvas - 208 cm × 265.5 cm (81.9 in × 104.5 in) - Musée d'Orsay, Paris (click photo for larger image)In 1863, the Salon des Refuses, or rather the “exhibition of rejects,” was the first presentation of works that were rejected by the jury of the official Paris Salon. Included in this landmark show was Édouard Manet’s famed painting, Le Dejeuner sur l’herbe, or Luncheon on the Grass. This painting shocked the French public due to the appearance of a female nude, casually seated with two fully-dressed men in a rural setting. The problem, however, wasn’t simply the nudity. If the setting had been historical or mythological, then this would have been fine. But the fact that the figures were contemporary was deemed unacceptable.
As early as the 1830s, Paris art galleries had mounted small-scale, private exhibitions of works rejected by the Salon jurors. The glamorous event of 1863 is the most significant, however, because it was actually sponsored by the French government.
This was a time when the art world was changing. The French Impressionists (inspired, in part, by Manet’s challenges to tradition) would soon emerge, as would the Post-Impressionists. It was the pre-dawn of Modernism.
Wednesday, October 16, 2013 at 11:11AM 
Alfred Sisley - Provencher's Mill at Moret, 1883, oil on canvas (click photo for larger image)Alfred Sisley was a British Impressionist landscape painter who lived most of his life in France. More than any other of the Impressionists, he remained constant in his dedication to en plein landscapes. While other group members would explore different genres and/or stylistic approaches--Sisley remained a landscape Impressionist throughout his life. There’s something to be said for consistency.
