The French Impressionists rediscovered: ‘They didn’t know their works would be masterpieces’

With paintings from Monet, Renoir, Van Gogh and others, National Gallery of Victoria’s new exhibition encourages audiences to look behind the blockbuster“Damned Manet! Everything he does he always hits off straight away, while I take endless pains and never get it right.”These are the words of Edgar Degas, inscribed on the wall beside a lively crayon lithograph sketched by the object of his frustration, fellow artist Édouard Manet. The picture is called The Races; in it,