In April, 1863, Emperor Napoleon III had been dismayed at the huge number of entries rejected by the Salon de Paris judges accepting entries for the annual exhibition of new art. He ordered that a showing of some of the rejected art be made. The result was the famous "Salon des Refusés" at the Elysée Palace that included the first public showing of the revolutionary and controversial canvas Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe by Edouard Manet. This work and others shown there influenced from then on the direction of modern art. (By John Osborne)
Source Citation
Édouard Manet, Michel Melot, Juliet Wilson Bareau, Manet, 1832-1833: Galeries Nationales Du Gran Palais, Paris, April 22-August 8, 1983, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, September 10-November 27, 1983 (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1983), 165-167.