Berthe Morisot
Morisot took part in the first Impressionist exhibition, held in April 1874 in the photographer Nadar's former studio. She was the only woman among the founding exhibitors.
Nadar's studio, 35 boulevard des Capucines
Still standing
Outside only
Someone else
The photographer Nadar's former studio, where thirty artists mounted the independent exhibition of April 1874 that got them the name Impressionists.
- 35 boulevard des Capucines, 75002 Paris
- The first Impressionist exhibition was held here in April 1874
The place, briefly
In April 1874 a group of painters who had spent years being rejected, badly hung or ignored by the official Salon rented the vacated studio of the photographer Nadar on the boulevard des Capucines and put on their own show. They had constituted themselves as a limited company with a deliberately colourless name, and the point was independence: no jury, no medals, and the works hung where they could actually be seen.
Berthe Morisot took part. That decision cost her something — she was advised against associating herself with the group, and she was the only woman among the founding exhibitors — and she went on showing with them in almost every subsequent exhibition of the series.
The show is the origin of the word. Claude Monet had entered a harbour view under the title Impression, and the critic Louis Leroy built a hostile review around it. The name stuck, first as a joke and then as the label the painters themselves accepted. The painting is now in Paris at the Marmottan; the exhibition that gave it its significance happened here.
The building survives on a busy stretch of boulevard near the Opéra. The studio is gone and there is nothing inside to see.
Key facts
- The first Impressionist exhibition, April 1874
- The photographer Nadar's former studio
- A founding exhibitor, and the only woman among them
- A hostile review of Monet's Impression, Sunrise
- The building stands; nothing of the studio remains
Timeline
Thirty artists mount their first independent exhibition in Nadar's former studio in April.
The second exhibition is held at the Durand-Ruel gallery on the rue Le Peletier.
On the map
Questions before you go
Where was the first Impressionist exhibition held?
At 35 boulevard des Capucines in the 2nd arrondissement, in the photographer Nadar's former studio, in April 1874.
Was Berthe Morisot in the first Impressionist exhibition?
Yes — she was one of the founding exhibitors and the only woman among them, and she showed in nearly all the later exhibitions of the series.
Can you visit?
The building is still there, but the studio is gone and the interior is in other use. There is nothing to see inside.
People who knew this place
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