Uploaded March 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago

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When Monet’s Impression, Sunrise was displayed at the First Impressionist Exhibition in of 1874 it inspired one critic to scornfully describe the artists on show as ‘Impressionists’. And so the name of one of the most successful movements in the history of art was born.
But was the success of the First Impressionist Exhibition more fact than fiction?
Was it really a groundbreaking moment in art history or just a chance for some impoverished young artists to make a bit of cash?
Join James and Alastair to find out.

Featured Artworks
Edgar Degas, At the Races in the Countryside, 1869
Pierre-Auguste Renoir, La Loge (The Theatre Box), 1874
Claude Monet, Impression, Sunrise, 1972

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