On April 15, 1874, on the Boulevard des Capucines, a group of thirty artists was preparing to change the history of painting forever. That day, the opening of the First Impressionist Exhibition brought together the champions of modernity, who had been regularly rejected by the Salon. Among them, a few young painters captured the attention of art lovers and stirred the passions of the critics: Monet, Cézanne, Renoir, Pissarro, Sisley, Degas, and Morisot—soon to be labeled “Impressionist” painters.
With this exhibition, Galerie HELENE BAILLY celebrates the Impressionist revolution, its roots and its legacy. A plural heritage, because the Impressionist movement avoided the pitfall of academic dogmatism and promoted the avant-gardism of its members. From Eugène Boudin, whom Monet considered his mentor, to Maximilien Luce and the first Francis Picabia, the echoes of Impressionism resonate throughout modern painting.
