In 1896, together with Nicolae Vermont, Constantin Artachino, and the art collector, Alexandru Bogdan-Pitești, Stefan Luchian was one of the main founders of Bucharest's "Salonul Independenţilor", which was opened in front of the official "Salon" (the Romanian equivalent of the Paris Salon). Two years later, the group led to the creation of "Societatea Ileana" and its press organ, "Ileana", with Luchian as the original illustrator. From then on Luchian began integrating Symbolist elements in his work, taking inspiration from various related trends: Art Nouveau, Jugendstil and "Mir iskusstva" ("see Symbolist movement in Romania").