Beirut’s Sursock Museum, a modern and contemporary art museum in Lebanon’s capital, re-opened its doors to the public in October 2015, after a seven-year renovation period. Set up as an endowment under the supervision of Beirut’s municipality, the Sursock Museum is a rare example of a publicly funded institution in a country characterized by private initiatives and institutions. First opened in 1961, the museum became known for its annual Salon d’Automne, a group exhibition of contemporary art. The Salon d’Automne was launched at a time when new galleries were opening in Beirut and many exhibitions taking place, and became a symbol of the museum. The first president of the museum’s committee announced the third salon with the words that it was time “to stop encouraging and proceed to establish criteria guiding both the artists and the general public”. The direction of both public taste and the artist was clearly a mission of the salon. This paper will examine the role of the Sursock Museum’s Salon d’Automne in terms of to what extent it patronized art and in fact impacted the debates on art in Lebanon in the thirty-one salons that took place between 1961 and 2012. It will look at why and by whom the salon was initiated, also comparing it with the “Painting and Sculpture Salon” organized by the Ministry of Education and Fine Arts in the UNESCO Palace between the late 1940s and mid-1970s. Who participated in the Sursock Museum’s Salon d’Automne and how were works selected? The paper will also analyze the salon’s relationship to the Academie Libanaise des Beaux Arts and its interaction with other galleries and exhibition spaces, and how these relations shifted over time. Who was the public whose taste the salon wanted to develop? Drawing on a range of sources including newspaper articles, exhibition catalogues, interviews with former jury members, art critics and museum staff, its legacy and future prospects will be discussed.