These were also the years of the first Impressionist group exhibitions which were initiated by Monet, but in which Pissaro was to play a major role and which earned him much criticism for his art. While mainly interested in landscape, he liked to introduce people (generally peasants going about their rural occupations) and animals into these and they often became the focal point of the composition.

From 1865 to1870 Degas exhibited each year at the Paris Salon. He also became friendly with Berthe Morisot and Edouard Manet and, in the summer of 1869, joined Manet in Boulogne and Saint-Valéry-en-Caux where he painted some landscapes. Indeed of all the artists of the time, it is doubtlessly Manet with whom he had the greatest affinity. They were both older than most of the Impressionist circle and both came from prosperous families so that, besides encounters in the cafés frequented by the avant-garde such as the Guerbois and the Nouvelle-Athènes, they could also meet socially within their family circles. Manet was only one year Degas' senior, however his style blossomed earlier and he was already painting scenes from daily life several years before the latter. Nevertheless the influence of Degas is also present in several of Manet's later works.

In 1874 Mary Cassat settled permanently in Paris. Although she had several works accepted for exhibition by the tradition-bound French Salon, her artistic aims aligned her with the avant-garde painters of the time. In 1877 Edgar Degas invited her to join the progressive group of artists popularly known as the impressionists. She particularly admired the work of Degas, and a close working relationship developed between the two artists. They both came from similar upper-class backgrounds, and their friendship was based on common visual sensibilities, including an interest in bold compositional structure, the asymmetry and high vantage point of Japanese prints, and contemporary subject matter.

Berthe Morisot's first acceptance in the Salon de Paris came in 1864 with two landscape paintings, and she continued to show regularly in the Salon until 1874, the year of the first impressionist exhibition. She was acquainted with Edouard Manet from 1868, and in 1874 she married Eugene Manet, Edouard's younger brother. She convinced Manet to attempt plein air painting, and drew him into the circle of acquaintance of the painters who became known as the impressionists. However, he never considered himself an impressionist or agreed to show with the group. Morisot, along with Camille Pissarro, was one of only two artists whose work exhibited in all of the original impressionist shows.

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