The exhibition celebrating the 150th anniversary of the official birth of Impressionism, 15 April 1874, makes use of the contributions of private collectors thanks to whom it is possible to admire over 160 original works by 66 artists, usually rarely or never exhibited. Such a contribution represents a unique opportunity to learn more about the art of the French Impressionists, whose most important works are today kept in the main international museums, primarily French ones. The interesting aspect deriving from the loans of private collectors, guardians of works considered minor, is that of bringing the visitor of the exhibition closer to a philological and didactic path to better understand the evolution of the individual artists and the revolution of the impressionist movement which took place in the second half of the 19th century, and which paved the way for a new way of conceiving art. Not only. The role of collecting has made possible, since the beginning of the French artistic movement, its diffusion but also the conservation and, therefore, valorization of the works themselves, while the dominant art system rejected them.

When the first Impressionist artists made their official debut, with the first exhibition organized by the photographer Nadar in Paris, which brought together 31 artists, the reception was not at all encouraging. It is known that the term 'impressionist' itself was coined, in a derogatory sense, by the critic Louis Leroy who in particular attacked Claude Monet's painting “Impression, Sunrise”, now kept at the Musée Marmottan Monet in Paris. The same fate, harsh criticism, had been suffered in Risorgimento Italy, over a decade earlier, by the movement of Tuscan artists now known as the Macchiaioli, thus addressed in the columns of the Gazzetta del Popolo with denigrating intent. The two artistic movements, both revolutionary and both influenced by the disruptive possibilities practiced by the Barbizon School, in which they found their anti-academic sentiment, are equally indebted, for their diffusion and success, to the interest aroused in collectors and patrons who understood the quality of the works. Furthermore, the collectors themselves favored the circulation of works by the Macchiaioli in France and the Impressionists in Italy, contributing to their mutual knowledge and, in certain aspects, also to the influence of Italian artists on French ones.