The Eight Impressionist Exhibitions
​page two

The Third Exhibition

Caillebotte was the major driving force behind the Third Exhibition, which was held in April and May 1877. He rented a large apartment for the exhibition on the same street as the Durant-Ruel Gallery. In addition, he worked to bring harmony to the group.

One such dispute was between Degas and Monet. Degas wanted to bring in new artists to provide fresh blood for the group. Monet felt that new artists would dilute the group. For the most part, Monet's view prevailed, although some new followers of Renoir were allowed to participate. Degas did succeed, however, in imposing a restriction that if an artist showed at the Salon, he or she could not show at this exhibition. In the end, 18 artists participated including core members Renoir, Pissarro, Morisot, Cezanne, Sisley and Guillaumin, as well as Caillebotte, Monet and Degas, showing 241 works.

The Third Exhibition was well-attended with estimates of 500 visitors a day. Furthermore, much fewer viewers seemed to regard the works as a joke. Similarly, while there were still hostile reviews, there were more reviews that took the works seriously including a lengthy review by Emile Zola, which was particularly complimentary to Monet and Cezanne.

The Fourth Exhibition

The Fourth Exhibition, held between April to May 1879, was a turning point for the group. Public reaction and the reviews of the critics were now mostly favorable. However, some major members of the core group mo longer wanted to participate.

This exhibition was organized by a group consisting of Caillebotte, Degas, Pissarro and Degas' friend Mary Cassatt.  Sixteen artists participated showing 246 works.

At first, Monet did not want to participate. He felt that the Impressionists' reputation was hurting sales of his work and inasmuch as he was in severe financial distress, he was cutting his ties to the group. Caillebotte, however, persuaded him to continue.

But Renoir did not participate. He had completed a portrait commission ‘Madame Georges Charpentier and Her Children” and was anxious to show it at the Salon. However, Degas' prohibition against Impressionists showing works at the Salon, meant that Renoir had to choose between the two exhibitions. He selected the more prestigious Salon. As it turned out, this was a very good move as the portrait was very well received and put Renoir on the path to financial success.

Along the same lines, Sisley did not participate. This impoverished artist felt that the Impressionist Exhibitions were not advancing his career and so he wanted to try submitting works to the Salon. He did so but did not have the same success as Renoir.

Cezanne did not participate. He reportedly was offended by what he viewed as a lack of loyalty to the group by Monet and Renoir.

Berthe Morisot had had a baby and had not done much painting. Some sources say that she did not participate for that reason. However, there is correspondence to indicate that she did in fact participate.

At the same time, several major artists participated for the first time. They included Marie Bracquemond and Mary Cassatt as well as Pissarro's friend Paul Gauguin, who was a last-minute addition.

As noted earlier, the exhibition was well-attended and received generally good reviews. There was even a profit that was divided among the participants.

The Fifth Exhibition

Caillebotte took charge of organizing the next Impressionist Exhibition, which took place in April 1880 in a residential building on Rue des Pyramides. Both Cassatt and Morisot helped finance the exhibition. Degas took on his customary role of unofficial curator of the exhibition.

Despite the success of the Fourth Exhibition, several of the major Impressionists were absent from the Fifth Exhibition. Monet, seeing the success of Renoir, decided to try his luck with the Salon. Renoir and Sisley again stayed away.

Outraged at Monet's departure, Degas invited several artists to participate in order to inject some new blood into the group. However, these artists did not work in the Impressionist style and as Monet had predicted, their inclusion diluted the impact of the exhibition.

Degas was also upset over the posters for the exhibition because they did not include the names of the three women artists who participated. Cassatt and Morisot had asked that their names not be included as participating artists because they were helping to finance the exhibition. Marie Bracquemond did not submit her work until late and so her name was not on the poster. Degas characterized the seemingly gender-based omissions as “idiotic,”

The attendance at the exhibition was less than at the Fourth Exhibition, perhaps because of the inconvenient venue. There were some hostile reviews but the critics were mostly indifferent. Paul Gauguin received high praise.

The Sixth Exhibition

As he had in the past, in early 1881, Caillebotte began efforts to organize the next Impressionist Exhibition. However, he found that only a few of the original Impressionists were interested in exhibiting together again. In hopes of attracting Monet, Renoir and the others, he proposed to limit participation in the exhibition to artists who were true Impressionists. There would be no repeat of the Fifth Exhibition. Still, he was unable to attract any of the original group except Degas, Pissarro and Morisot.

The task of organizing the exhibition then passed to Degas and Gauguin. Once again, Degas invited a large number of artists who were not Impressionists to participate. Indeed, the new artists outnumbered the Impressionists who now only included Pissarro, Morisot, and Cassatt as well as Degas and Gauguin.

For this exhibition, they returned to Nadar's studio. The building was under construction and that hindered attendance. The fact that there were only a few Impressionists participating was commented upon by the critics. However, Gauguin, Cassatt and Morisot received good reviews.

The Seventh Exhibition

Caillebotte resolved to make one more attempt to return the Impressionist Exhibitions to Impressionism. Therefore, he wrote to Pissarro suggesting that the 1882 exhibition be limited to a small group of true Impressionists and that the prohibition on exhibiting at both the Salon and the Impressionist Exhibition be eliminated. In short, he was proposing to exclude Degas' followers as well as Degas' restriction.

Unsure of what to do, Pissarro sought Gauguin's advice. Surprisingly, he found that Gauguin agreed that Degas was the cause of the group's problems.

Caillebotte and Pissarro then began to approach the other Impressionists. When they encountered some resistance from Monet and Renoir, they enlisted the support of Paul Durant-Ruel who was their primary art dealer. With some persuasion Monet agreed. Renoir gave permission to show some of his works that were already in Durant-Ruel's possession but did not attend the exhibition.

In the end, nine artists participated in the exhibition: Monet, Renoir, Caillebotte, Pissarro, Morisot, Gauguin, Sisley, Victor Vignon and Guillaumin. Not surprisingly, Degas declined to participate and out of loyalty to Degas, Cassatt and Henri Rouart refused to participate. Interestingly, Rouart did so even though he had found and rented the venue that was used for the exhibition on Rue St-Honore.

The exhibition was a success with good attendance and with good critical reviews. In addition, many of the works on exhibition ere sold.

The Eighth Exhibition

The Eighth Impressionist Exhibition was something of an anti-climax. Whereas the Seventh Exhibition was a triumph of Impressionism, the Eighth Exhibition had very little to do with Impressionism.

In 1886, Berthe Morisot began to sound out the other Impressionists about another group exhibition. That effort soon faltered on the rocks that had damaged the Sixth ad Seventh Exhibitions. As a result, Morisot decided to take a less active role and the exhibition was once again curated by Degas.

Degas demanded that the dates for the Impressionist Exhibition be shifted so as to coincide with the dates of the Paris Salon. This made it impossible as a practical matter for any artist to exhibit a work at both exhibitions. Although the majority of the group opposed Degas' demand, it was accepted.

Degas again invited a number of artists who were not Impressionists to participate. In addition, he acceded to Pissarro's request that the Post-Impressionist artists Georges Seurat and Paul Signac be included in the exhibition. Pissarro had changed his style so that he too was working in the Pointalist style pioneered by Seurat and Signac. Consequently, the only artists in the exhibition working in the Impressionist style were Morisot, Guillaumin, Gauguin and Marie Bracquemond.

Seventeen artists particpated in the exhibition, which was held in rooms above a restaurant on Rue Lafitte. Monet, Renoir, Sisley and Caillebotte refused to participate.

The works by Seurat and Signac dominated the exhibition. As in the early days of Impressionism, the works were mocked by the public and the critics. However, they drew the most attention.

There was little reason to hold another Impressionist Exhibition after the Eighth Exhibition. The Salon and the art establishment had become more receptive to Impressionistic ideas and techniques. In addition, there were more commercial galleries providing competition to the Salon. At the same time, the original Impressionists had taken their art is different directions. They were no longer trying to achieve a common goal. Consequently, there was no need to try and bridge the chasms that divided the artists personally.

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See our profiles of these Impressionists and members of  their circle.

Frederic Bazille
Eugene Boudin
Marie Bracquemond
Gustave Caillebotte
Mary Cassatt
Paul Cezanne
​Edgar Degas
Henri Fantin-Latour
​Eva Gonzales
Paul Gauguin
Armand Guillaumin​
Edouard Manet
Claude Monet (Part I The Early Years)​
​Claude Monet (Part II High Impressionism)​
​Claude Monet (Part III The Giverny Years)
​Berthe Morisot
​Camille Pissarro
Pierre Auguste Renoir
Alfred Sisley
​​Suzanne Valadon

Art reviews and articles index

Above: Monet's contribution to the Third Exhibition included a series of eight paintings he had done of the St. Lazare railroad station in Paris.
​Below: Caillebotte's "Rainy Day in Paris"

Two new women artists participated in The Fourth Exhibition.  Above: Mary Cassatt's "Lydia at the Opera".  Below: Marie Bracquemond's "On the Terrace at Sevres." 

A controversial highlight of the Sixth Exhibition was Edgar Degas' sculpture "The Little Dancer Aged Fourteen."  The original was made of wax, had human hair and was dressed in a cloth ballet costume. 

​The Seventh Exhibition saw the return of Monet and Renoir to the Impressionist Exhibitions.  Above: Monet's "Sunset on the Seine, Winter Effect."  Below: Renoir's "The Luncheon of the Boating Party."

Stealing the show at the Eighth Exhibition were the Post-Impressionist works of Georges Seurat and Paul Signac.  In particular Seurat's "A Sunday on the Grande Jatte" drew the crowd's attention and comment.  

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Artist appreciation - The Eight Impressionist Exhibitions - page two