Pissarro Paris Salon Analysis

These friends, later joined by others such as Degas and Renoir, shared painting techniques, collaborated on projects, and encouraged each other when their work was rejected by art critics. There were points in which almost all the members of their group would be refused by the Salon, while a few were accepted. “Pissarro became…opposed to the standards of the École des Beaux-Arts and the Academy throughout the 1860s, and he occasionally took part in lively debates with younger artists such as Monet and Renoir...Although he showed his work at the Paris Salon, he and his colleagues came increasingly to recognize the unfairness of the Salon’s jury system as well as the disadvantages relatively small paintings such as their own had at Salon exhibitions.” At the time, the artists did not have opportunity to react against the Salon, as the Franco-Prussian War had just broken out. Pissarro, as well as other artists, fled to Britain to wait out the war. However, when they returned to Paris, they were prepared to open the first Impressionist Exhibition outside of the Salon’s influence. …show more content…
When he returned, the vast majority of them were destroyed by soldiers, but he and his friends quickly rallied and began creating more. He gathered fifteen other artists, including Cézanne, and taught them how to paint directly nature in plein air. This changed the way these artist viewed and approached art, particularly Cézanne. “Later, in 1902, he said of his mentor: “As for old Pissarro, he was a father to me, a man to consult and something like the good Lord.” It was during this time that Pissarro shifted from role of the mentee, although he continued to learn new art styles throughout his life, to a mentor. Many of his contemporaries considered him a father, teacher, and