QUAND ON A SON PORTRAIT AU SALON. - C'est tout d'même flatteur, Eudoxie, d'être exposé comme ça en public et je ne regrette pas les deux cents francs que ça nous a coûté..... voilà un monsieur qui nous regarde, il a l'air de nous trouver bien!..... (Le Rapin) Est-il Dieu permis de se faire peindre, quand on a des balles pareilles!

Trustman, Benjamin A., Trustman, Julia M. · 1845

The Salon, the yearly art exhibitions in Paris, were actually art fairs which attracted approximately 1 million visitors from Paris and the provinces. Hundreds of painters and sculptors exhibited. The Salons were the ideal marketplace for the classical painters as well as the new, modern, avant-garde artists. Having little access to private art galleries, these exhibits were especially for the progressive school of greatest economic importance. The jury played an increasingly important role for the future of an artist. Once an artist was rejected from the Salon by a conservative jury, he had most likely no chance to succeed commercially. Very often, a parallel Salon was organized for those artists whose works were refused at the official exhibition. The SALON was for most artists the only possibility to present their works to a greater public. The Salon of 1834 for example attracted some 30’000 visitors already on the opening day. During the entire period of two months, a total of one million spectators went to the show. On certain days the ticket price was reduced to 20 sous or was even free of charge, attracting a large number of visitors. During the World Fair, which lasted from May 15 to November 15, 1855 thousands of visitors from Paris and abroad as well as from the French provinces visited the Salons.