How the First Impressionist Exhibition Came to Be

How the First Impressionist Exhibition Came to Be The first Impressionist exhibition took place from April 15 to May 15, 1874. Led by the French artists Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Camille Pissarro, and Berthe Morisot, they called themselves the Anonymous Society of Painters, Sculptors, Engravers, etc. Thirty artists displayed 165 works at the photographer Nadars former studio at 35 Boulevard des Capucines. The building was modern and the paintings were modern: pictures of contemporary life painted in a technique that looked unfinished to the art critics and the general public. And, the works were on sale! Right there. (Although they had to remain on view for the duration of the show.) Louis Leroy, a critic for Le Charivari, entitled his nasty, satirical review Exhibition of Impressionists which was inspired by Claude Monets painting Impression: Sunrise, 1873. Leroy meant to discredit their work. Instead, he invented their identity. However, the group did not call themselves Impressionists until their third show in 1877. They were also called the Independents and the Intransigents, which implied political activism. Pissarro was the only avowed anarchist. Participants in the First Impressionist Exhibition Zacharie AstrucAntoine-Ferdinand AttenduÉdouard Bà ©liardEugà ¨ne BoudinFà ©lix BraquemondÉdouard BrandonPierre-Isidore BureauAdolphe-Fà ©lix CalsPaul Cà ©zanneGustave ColinLouis DebrasEdgar DegasJean-Baptiste Armand GuillauminLouis LaToucheLudovic-Napolà ©on LepicStanislas LepineJean-Baptiste-Là ©opold LevertAlfred MeyerAuguste De MolinsClaude MonetMademoiselle Berthe MorisotMulot-DurivageJoseph DeNittisAuguste-Louis-Marie OttinLà ©on-Auguste OttinCamille PissarroPierre-Auguste RenoirStanislas-Henri RouartLà ©opold RobertAlfred Sisley