What was the name of the exhibition of works that had been rejected by the official Paris Salon?

The Salon des Refusés, French for "exhibition of rejects", is generally known as an exhibition of works rejected by the jury of the official Paris Salon, but the term is most famously used to refer to the Salon des Refusés of 1863.

Today by extension, 'salon des refusés' refers to any exhibition of works rejected from a juried art show.

The Paris Salon, sponsored by the French government and the Academy of Fine Arts, took place annually, and was a showcase of the best academic art. The jury was very conservative; near-photographic but idealized realism was expected.

In 1863 the Salon jury refused two thirds of the paintings presented, including the works of Gustave Courbet, Édouard Manet, Camille Pissarro and Johan Jongkind. The rejected artists and their friends protested, and the protests reached Emperor Napoleon III ( the first president of France from 1848 to 1852 and the emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870). He ordered a new exhibition to be organized. More than a thousand visitors a day visited the Salon des Refusés.

The Impressionists successfully exhibited their works outside the traditional Salon beginning in 1874. Subsequent Salons des Refusés were mounted in Paris in 1874, 1875, and 1886, by which time the popularity of the Paris Salon had declined for those who were more interested in Impressionism.