The Artists' Salon

A salon is a gathering of people under the roof of an inspiring host, held partly to amuse one another and partly to refine the taste and increase the knowledge of the participants through conversation. These gatherings often follow Horac's definition of the aims of poetry, "either to please or to educate" ("aut delectare aut prodesse est"). Salons are commonly associated with French literary and philosophical movements of the 17th and 18th centuries.