Louis Leroy (1812-1885) was a French journalist, art critic, and playwright. He is best known for having mockingly given its name to the Impressionist movement in 1874, in his review of the exhibition on the Boulevard des Capucines.
Louis Leroy(1923 — 1961)
Louis Leroy
France
8 min read
Frequently asked questions
Famous Quotes
« Impression — I was certain of it. I was just telling myself that, since I was impressed, there had to be some impression in it.»
Key Facts
- Born in 1812, Louis Leroy was a journalist for the satirical newspaper Le Charivari
- In April 1874, he published a mocking review of the first exhibition by the Monet/Renoir/Degas group, titled 'The Exhibition of the Impressionists'
- His review referenced Monet's painting 'Impression, Sunrise' to ridicule the artists
- The term 'Impressionists,' launched with irony, was reclaimed by the artists themselves and became the official name of the movement
- He was also the author of plays and vaudevilles, a dimension often overshadowed by his role in art history
Works & Achievements
A critical article published in the form of a satirical dialogue, in which Leroy mockingly coined the term 'Impressionist' from Monet's painting. An unwitting founding text, it is now considered the official birth certificate of the Impressionist movement.
For more than twenty years, Leroy maintained a regular column in Le Charivari, covering the official Salons and alternative exhibitions. His style blended biting irony with boulevard humor, making art criticism accessible and entertaining for the broad bourgeois readership.
Leroy authored several dozen light plays performed in Parisian venues: vaudevilles, one-act and multi-act comedies, sometimes written in collaboration. Though forgotten today, they earned him a solid reputation in the circles of Parisian theatre and the press.
Anecdotes
On April 25, 1874, Louis Leroy published a scathing review in the satirical newspaper *Le Charivari*, targeting the first independent exhibition organized on the Boulevard des Capucines by Monet, Renoir, Pissarro, and their friends. Intending to mock Monet's painting titled *Impression, Sunrise*, he ironically dubbed these artists the "Impressionists." Far from taking offense, the painters proudly embraced the nickname, which would become one of the most famous labels in the history of art.
To structure his review, Leroy invented a fictional character: M. Joseph Vincent, an elderly academic painter decorated at the Salon, who tours the exhibition alongside him. With each painting, poor Vincent gradually loses his mind, scandalized by the disorderly brushstrokes and vivid colors. This humorous literary device allowed Leroy to mock the works through comic dialogue, putting his playwright's talent to work in the service of art criticism.
Before his celebrated 1874 review, Leroy was best known in Paris as the author of vaudevilles and light comedies staged in the Boulevard theaters. He had written dozens of plays for the Théâtre du Palais-Royal and the Variétés, which explains his natural flair for dialogue and comic misunderstanding in his articles. Paradoxically, his career as a comic playwright had forged the vocabulary of modern art.
The term "Impressionism
coined in mockery
is one of the rare examples in art history where a derisive word became a badge of honor. Other movements share the same semantic journey:
baroque,
Gothic
and "Fauvism" all began as insults before being claimed with pride by the very artists they targeted.
Primary Sources
— Impression, Sunrise, I said. — Impression, I was sure of it. I also said to myself, since I am impressed, there must be some impression in it… And what freedom, what ease in the brushwork! Wallpaper in its embryonic state is more finished than that seascape!
Exhibition from 15 April to 15 May 1874, 35 boulevard des Capucines (Nadar's studios). No. 98: Monet (Claude), Impression, Sunrise.
Louis Leroy, journalist and playwright, passed away on 17 December 1885. He left behind a substantial body of work for the theatre and art criticism columns that made their mark on the era, including a famous 1874 review that unwittingly gave its name to an entire school of painting.
Key Places
Studio of photographer Nadar, where the first exhibition of the group of independent artists was held from April 15 to May 15, 1874. It was here that Leroy saw Monet's *Impression, Sunrise* and mockingly coined the term "Impressionist."
Birthplace of Louis Leroy, on **June 1, 1812**, and former capital of Champagne. This intellectual and commercial hub shaped the early years of the man who would go on to become a journalist, playwright, and art critic in Paris.
Headquarters of the satirical newspaper *Le Charivari*, where Leroy wrote the bulk of his articles and art criticism over several decades. At the time, the paper was one of the most influential publications in the Parisian press, with a print run of several thousand copies.
Venue for the official annual painting Salons organized by the State on the Champs-Élysées, which Leroy regularly covered as a critic. The tension between this temple of academic art and the Impressionists' independent exhibition lies at the heart of the artistic revolution of **1874**.
A cluster of playhouses — including the Théâtre du Palais-Royal, des Variétés, and du Vaudeville — where Leroy's light comedies were regularly performed. These theatres formed the heart of popular and bourgeois cultural life in nineteenth-century Paris.
