If Lunch on the Grass of Manet had not been banned from the annual Salon of Painters of 1863, the collective momentum which would contribute to the birth of what we would call Impressionism would perhaps not have been as strong. In this terrible year, Manet is not the only one to have this bitter experience. Other equally talented painters were also excluded from the Salon, with no less than 4,000 works refused. For Degas and Cézanne, the insult became customary, with each selection. The reason ? Their paintings, which break free from the strict rules of the Academy, would not meet the expectations of the juries.
