Salon des Refusés

I found this extremely interesting:

Salon des Refusés

It was a Salon for displaying works that had been rejected by the official Paris Salon in 1863. The Paris Salon was actually an art gallery, but I've always been attracted to the idea of people who join forces because they've been kicked out of everywhere else.

The book pictures here talks about the importance of this Salon, in that the inaugaral show they had (in 1863) is, in some ways, the beginning of Impressionism (or so this book argues).

It makes me say: hurm.