Salon of 1868

The Salon of 1868 was an art exhibition held at the Palace of Industry in Paris from 1 May 1868.^[1] The exhibition was the annual edition of the Salon organised by the Académie des Beaux-Arts and featured many leading artists of the Second French Empire.

The Salon featured paintings from several figures who would become associated with the Impressionist movement. After several years where his submitted works were rejected, Lise with a Parasol by Pierre-Auguste Renoir was displayed. Alfred Sisley's landscape Avenue of Chestnut Trees near La Celle-Saint-Cloud owed more to the tradition of the Barbizon school rather than Impressionism.^[2] Édouard Manet exhibited his Portrait of Emile Zola.^[3]

Napoleon III had commissioned a large history painting Entry of the French Expeditionary Force into Mexico City commemorating the French Intervention in Mexico for the Palace of Versailles, which was produced by Jean-Adolphe Beaucé and featured prominently at the Salon.^[4] Alfred Darjou also produced a depiction of the Emperor's 1865 visit to Relizane in French Algeria which also was intended for Versailles.^[5]