A group of painters assembled in my home, read with pleasure the article you published in 'L'Avenir national'. We are all very pleased to see you defend ideas which are also ours, and we hope that, as you say, 'L'Avenir national' will kindly lend us its support when the Society we are in the process of forming is finally established [forming a new artist-group, to organize an independent and concurrent exhibition, an alternative exhibition for the official yearly (rather classical) Paris Salon].

1873 Letter to Paul Alexis, May 1873; as quoted in Sue Roe, The private live of the Impressionists, HarperCollins Publishers, New York, 2006, p. 120 - 1870–1890