On what date did Claude Monet’s first Impressionist exhibition open in Paris?

Claude Monet’s first Impressionist exhibition opened in Paris on April 15, 1874.

The exhibition was organized by the Société anonyme coopérative des artistes peintres, sculpteurs et graveurs, an independent group that included Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Edgar Degas, Camille Pissarro, Alfred Sisley, and Berthe Morisot. It took place in the former studio of the photographer Nadar on Boulevard des Capucines.

Monet contributed Impression, Sunrise, whose title inspired the name “Impressionism” after critic Louis Leroy used the term mockingly in a review. The exhibition was not initially called an Impressionist exhibition; that label became standard only later.

A common mix-up is to confuse the opening date with the year 1874, which is often the only date given in short accounts. The show closed on May 15, 1874, after displaying works by about 30 artists.