Georges Petit - Rivalries and Rise To Prominence

Rivalries and Rise To Prominence

Petit had an intense rivalry with art dealer Paul-Marie-Joseph Durand-Ruel (1831-1922). Durand-Ruel took over his business from his father in 1865. The Petit and Durand-Ruel galleries had been the top two firms in Paris dating back to the 1850s. Paul Durand-Ruel was 25 years older than Petit and had become an advocate of the Impressionists as early as 1870.

The gallery which Petit opened at 12, rue Godot de Mauroy in 1881 was a popular alternative exhibition space to the official Salon. Petit's gallery later relocated to 8, rue de Sèze in the heart of Paris.

Petit made his private views into grand social occasions. He devised the series of Expositions internationales de Peinture, the first of which was held in 1882. John Singer Sargent sent his portrait of Vernon Lee to the inaugural event, a work which received decidedly mixed reviews. Sargent wrote, "it has been exhibited … and has consternated many people."

These events attracted the likes of Monet, Camille Pissarro, Auguste Renoir and Alfred Sisley.

Sisley held large retrospective exhibitions at the Galerie Georges Petit in the 1880s and 1890s. This was something of a coup for Petit, as Sisley had been previously associated with Durand-Ruel. In 1897, Petit exhibited 146 Sisley paintings and 5 of his pastels, covering the whole of his career. Two years later, just months after Sisley's death, the paintings remaining in Sisley's atelier were sold at auction by the Galerie Georges Petit to the benefit of his children.