Salon des Refusés

The Salon des Refusés was an 1863 Paris exhibition of artworks rejected by the official Salon jury, authorized by Napoleon III after public protest over the selections.

Paris Salon: An annual French art exhibition organized by the Académie des Beaux-Arts and its predecessors. Its jury rejected the works that the 1863 exhibition displayed.
Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe: Édouard Manet’s 1863 painting of a nude woman picnicking with two clothed men in a landscape. Its scale, modern subject, and frank nudity made it the exhibition’s most notorious work.
Édouard Manet: A French painter whose modern subjects and unconventional handling challenged academic conventions in the 1860s. His exhibited works, especially Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe, became symbols of the jury’s rejection.
Academic art: Art made according to the formal principles taught by European academies, especially those associated with classical subjects and polished technique. Its conventions shaped the official Salon’s preferences and contrasted with many rejected works.
Napoleon III: Emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870 and nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte. He ordered a separate exhibition after rejected artists protested.
The Birth of Venus (Cabanel): Alexandre Cabanel’s 1863 painting of Venus rising from the sea, shown at the official Paris Salon. Its academic finish and mythological subject exemplified the kind of work the official jury favored.
Impressionism: A nineteenth-century art movement that emphasized changing light, modern life, and visible brushwork. The exhibition preceded the independent Impressionist exhibitions and helped expose conflict with official taste.
Salon des Indépendants: An annual Paris exhibition founded in 1884 to show art without jury selection or awards. Unlike the 1863 exhibition, it established a recurring alternative to official selection.
Émile Zola: A French novelist and critic whose naturalist fiction and political journalism shaped public debate. His later writing made the 1863 exhibition a landmark in the history of modern art.
Young Lady in 1866: Édouard Manet’s 1866 portrait of Victorine Meurent dressed in a pale pink robe. The painting was among Manet’s works displayed in the rejected-art exhibition.

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