Editing Salon des Refusés (section)

==Background of the Salon of 1863==
The [[Paris Salon]], sponsored by the French government and the [[Académie des Beaux-Arts|Academy of Fine Arts]], took place annually, and was an exhibition of the best academic art.  A medal from the Salon was assurance of a successful artistic career; winners were given official commissions by the French government and were sought after for portraits and private commissions.  Since the 18th century, the paintings were classified by genre, following a hierarchy;  [[history painting]]s were ranked first, followed by the portrait, the landscape, the "[[Genre art|genre scene]]" and the still life.  The jury, headed by the Comte de Nieuwerkerke, the head of the Academy of Fine Arts, was very conservative; near-photographic but idealized realism was expected.<ref>Maneglier, Hervé, ''Paris Impérial- la vie quotidienne sous le Second Empire'' Éditions Armand Colin, (1990).</ref>

Much intrigue often went on to get acceptance, and to be given a good place in the galleries.  In 1851, [[Gustave Courbet]] managed to get one painting into the Salon, [[A Burial At Ornans|''Enterrement à Ornans'']], and in 1852 his [[The Bathers (Courbet)|''Baigneuses'']] was accepted, scandalizing critics and the public, who expected romanticized nudes in classical settings, but in 1855 the Salon refused all of Courbet's paintings.  As early as the 1830s, Paris art galleries mounted small, private exhibitions of works rejected by the Salon jurors.  Courbet was obliged to organize his own exhibit, called ''The Pavillon of Realism'', at a private gallery.  Private exhibits attracted far less attention from the press and patrons, and limited the access of the artists to a small public.

In 1863 the Salon jury refused two thirds of the paintings presented, including the works of [[Gustave Courbet]],  [[Édouard Manet]], [[Camille Pissarro]], [[Antoine Chintreuil]], and [[Johan Jongkind]]. The rejected artists and their friends protested, and the protests reached Emperor [[Napoleon III]]. The Emperor's tastes in art were traditional; he commissioned and bought works by artists such as [[Alexandre Cabanel]] and [[Franz Xaver Winterhalter]], but he was also sensitive to public opinion. His office issued a statement: "Numerous complaints have come to the Emperor on the subject of the works of art which were refused by the jury of the Exposition.  His Majesty, wishing to let the public judge the legitimacy of these complaints, has decided that the works of art which were refused should be displayed in another part of the Palace of Industry."<ref>Published in ''Le Moniteur'' on 24 April 1863. Cited in Maneglier, Hervé, ''Paris Impérial – La vie quotidienne sous le Second Empire,'' p. 173.</ref>

More than a thousand visitors a day visited the Salon des Refusés. The journalist [[Émile Zola]] reported that visitors pushed to get into the crowded galleries where the refused paintings were hung, and the rooms were full of the laughter of the spectators.<ref>Maneglier, Hervé, ''Paris Impérial – la vie quotidienne sous le Second Empire,'' Éditions Armand Colin, (1990). p. 173.</ref> Critics and the public ridiculed the ''refusés'', which included such famous paintings as Édouard Manet's ''[[Déjeuner sur l'herbe]]'' and James McNeill Whistler's ''[[Symphony in White, No. 1: The White Girl]]''. The critical attention also legitimized the emerging avant-garde in painting. The [[Impressionists]] exhibited their works outside the traditional Salon beginning in 1874. Subsequent Salons des Refusés were mounted in Paris in 1874, 1875, and 1886, by which time the popularity of the Paris Salon had declined for those who were more interested in Impressionism.