Mary Cassett, Lady at the Tea Table, 1883, Oil on canvas, 73.4 x 61 cm, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Monet moves to Giverny (home of the wonderful water lilly scenes). (CHF)

Emile Zola publishes Au Bonheur des Dames.

Signac paints Faubourgs de Paris. (CHF)

Electrification continues. Power is moved 20 km from its generating site to the Gare du Nord. (AF)

Anarchism is not dead. Louise Michel is sentenced to six years in jail for inciting an attack on butchers in the vicinity of blvd. St. Germain.

The first Parisian school for young girls opens. This follows the opening last year of a girls school in Marseille. (AF)

More broadly:
 

First ascension of an electric motorized dirigible. (Image Almanach Francais)

The steam auto is invented. At this time it is unclear what technology will prevail. Gas powered ultimately prevails. This car hit 40 kph (about 25 mph). (Image Almanach Francais)

Work starts on the Orient-Express. (CHF)

France occupies Madagascar. (CHF)

Vietnam becomes a French protectorate as a result of the Treaty of Hue. This starts a long and troubled relationship, one which unravels in the 1950s, when the US picks up the pain. (CHF)