Brief Chronology of Impressionism
1791 | In Paris, the Salon exhibits works by members of the French Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture. Although originally open to all artists, the advent of a jury to organize the exhibition led to a process of selection. The Salon’s jury became an outlet for a narrow circle of officially approved artists. After a change in 1864, only previous winners of medals in the Salon could sit on the jury, which later led to conservatism and prejudice against the Impressionist movement. |
1830 | Camille Pissarro is born in St. Thomas, West Indies. |
1832 | Edouard Manet is born in Paris. |
1834 | Edgar Degas is born to a rich banker and Creole mother. |
1839 | Paul Cézanne is born in Aix-en-Provence and Alfred Sisley is born in Paris. |
1840 | Claude Monet is born in Paris. |
1841 | Berthe Morisot is born, Pierre-Auguste Renoir is born in Limoges and Armand Guillaumin is born in Paris. |
1848 | Paul Gauguin is born in Paris. |
1853 | Vincent van Gogh is born in a small village near Antwerp. |
1858 | Pissarro attends the Académie Suisse and meets Monet; in Le Havre Monet meets Eugène Boudin, who encourages him in his painting. |
1862 | Manet comes into an inheritance; he paints La Musique aux Tuileries and meets Degas, who is beginning to paint race scenes at Longchamp. In Paris Cézanne fails the Ecole des Beaux-Arts entrance exam. Monet is working in Le Havre. |
1863 | Manet exhibits at Martinet’s gallery in Paris. Cézanne studies at the Académie Suisse in Paris; Monet works in the forest of Fontainebleau, and Morisot works at Pontoise. On Jan.15 the Salon des Refusés opens, a special exhibition of works refused by the Salon of 1863. It contains works by Manet, Cézanne, Pissarro, Guillaumin, and James A. M. Whistler. |
1865 | Manet’s second exhibition at Martinet’s is well received, but Olympia at the Salon arouses a storm. Pissarro, Renoir and Morisot are well received at the Salon. Monet shares a studio with Frédéric Bazille. |
1869 | Café Guerbois becomes the favorite center of the Impressionists. Monet becomes a regular at the café. Pissarro works at Bougival with Renoir, who has one work accepted by the Salon. |
1873 | Manet’s Bon Bock is well received at the Salon, and he meets Stéphane Mallarmé, a passionate literary proponent of Impressionism. One of Degas’ pastels is bought by the American Mrs. Havemeyer. Pissarro's pictures fetch fairly high prices at auction. Monet, now working in Argenteuil, takes up the plan first suggested in 1867 for a group Impressionist exhibition. Renoir enters art dealer Paul Durand-Ruel’s stable, meets Guillaumin, and has a considerable success at the Exposition des Refusés. |
1874 | The first Impressionist exhibition is held in Paris. Durand-Ruel stages an Impressionist exhibition in his London gallery. Manet starts to reap the benefits of his friendship with Mallarmé, who protests the Salon’s rejection of Manet’s paintings. Refusing to participate in the Impressionist exhibition, Manet works at Argenteuil with Monet; Renoir soon joins them. Pissarro insists on Cézanne’s participation and, though he sells one of the works he shows, Cézanne arouses derision with his Modern Olympia. Morisot, who exhibits nine works, spends part of the year with the Manet family at Fécamp and marries Eugène, Edouard Manet’s brother. |
1876 | The second Impressionist exhibition is held in Paris, with 20 participants. Degas exhibits 24 works. He also loses momst of his personal fortune by bailing his brother out of financial difficulties. Renoir’s fortune looks good as a result of meeting George Charpentier, a patron of art and literature. Mallarmé publishes a flattering article about Manet. |
1877 | The third Impressionist exhibition in Paris has 18 participants. Degas invites the American Mary Cassatt to join the group. Pissarro and Cézanne leave L’Union, a group started by Pissarro and Alfred Meyer. Monet, still in dire straits, exhibits 30 paintings, Renoir 17 and Morisot 19. Georges Rivière edits L’Impressionniste, a periodical defending Impressionism, during the run of the exhibition. |
1879 | The fourth Impressionist exhibition in Paris has 15 participants. Manet exhibits two works at the official Salon, though the exhibition is savaged by art critic Joris-Karl Huysmans; all of Cézanne’s entries are rejected. Pissarro invites Gauguin to submit to the group exhibition, and he shows one sculpture and seven paintings. |
1880 | Fifth exhibition in Paris, which includes 18 participants. Manet’s Execution of the Emperor Maximilian is exhibited successfully in the U.S. and he has a one-man exhibition of pastels at La Vie Moderne in Paris; his health deteriorates. |
1881 | Sixth exhibition in Paris; 13 participants. Manet, now seriously ill, is awarded the Legion of Honour. Pissarro is working in Pontoise with Gauguin and Cézanne, who at the end of the year returns to Aix. |
1882 | Seventh exhibition in Paris; nine participants. Manet shows Le Bar aux Folies-Bergère at the Salon. |
1883 | Manet dies on April 30. Durand-Ruel arranges a series of one-man exhibitions in his new gallery: Monet in March, Renoir in April, Pissarro in May, Sisley in June. |
1886 | Final exhibition in Paris; 17 participants. Durand-Ruel has successful American exhibition. |
1890 | Vincent van Gogh dies at Auvers-sur-Oise. |
1895 | Berthe Morisot dies. |
1899 | Alfred Sisley dies. |
1903 | Paul Gauguin dies at Atuana, Marquesas Islands. |
1906 | Paul Cézanne dies. |
1917 | Edgar Degas dies. |
1919 | Pierre-Auguste Renoir dies. |
1926 | Claude Monet dies at Giverny. |
1927 | Armand Guillaumin dies. |