in 1872 monet and his friends formed a society called the "cooperative and anonymous association of painters, sculptors, and engravers". they began to organize their own art show. in 1874 thirty artists held their first exhibition. the critic louis leroy made fun of their work and wrote an article called "the exhibition of the impressionists". the public who came to the exhibition also began to use this name. the painters themselves soon started to use the name "impressionists" and they have been called by that name ever since. they had eight exhibitions between 1874 and 1886. they paid a dealer called paul durand-ruel to organise exhibitions, and he arranged shows in london and new york. bit by bit, their paintings became popular. some of the impressionists, monet and renoir, lived to be old and famous, but others died very poor. the main artists who are called "impressionists" include claude monet, auguste renoir, paul cézanne, camille pissarro, alfred sisley, edgar degas, berthe morisot, armand guillaumin, mary cassatt, gustave caillebotte and frederic bazille.