it is easy to forget that the Impressionist painters were revolutionaries. Today their art is part of the normal fabric of our lives. But in the 1870s they were breaking all the rules. In France art was strictly policed by the Salon de Paris - the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Their annual exhibition was where the best art was displayed - subject to approval by the jury. Great art was historical, religious, mythological, worthy, - and if it did not follow the techniques of the masters it was refused.

A group of rebels made their own exhibitions, the second was held in 1876. Here are gathered images of many of the paintings that were shown in the rooms in Paris. Their art was being ridiculed as being merely an impression rather than a proper representation. And so the label would turn from being derogatory to becoming their name: The Impressionists.

I have found 133 of the 252 paintings numbered in the catalogue. There are some treasures here … and some others. The exhibition was held in three large rooms in the Rue le Peletier in Paris, just by the corner with the Boulevard Hausmann, opening on Jeudi, le 30 Mars 1876.