Salon des refuses

DEFINITION

An art exhibition held in Paris in 1863, set up by the government at the urging of the artists involved, as an exhibition of paintings that had been refused by the official annual Salon of the Acad?mie des Beaux-Arts. The show's major sensations were two paintings by ?douard Manet (French, 1832-1883), each considered scandalous ? Luncheon on the Grass (Le D?jeuner sur l'herbe), for portraying nude and clothed figures together in a scene of everyday life, and Olympia, for portraying a nude prostitute, whose form was not typical of those considered ideal. Other exhibitors were Claude Monet (French, 1840-1926), Camille Pissarro (French, 1830-1903), and James A. M. Whistler (American, 1834-1903).