Salon

1. (n.) An apartment for the reception of company; hence, in the plural, fashionable parties; circles of fashionable society.
2. (n.) An apartment for the reception and exhibition of works of art; hence, an annual exhibition of paintings, sculptures, etc., held in Paris by the Society of French Artists; -- sometimes called the Old Salon. New is a popular name for an annual exhibition of paintings, sculptures, etc., held in Paris at the Champs de Mars, by the Societe Nationale des Beaux-Arts (National Society of Fine Arts), a body of artists who, in 1890, seceded from the Societe des Artistes Francais (Society of French Artists).