There are only a few days left to go visit the Steins (Gertrude, Leo, and the rest of the family). They’re at the Met in The Steins Collect: Matisse, Picasso, and the Parisian Avant-Garde.
Instead of the tiny, little studio they inhabited in Paris, the Met has spread out all of the Matisses and Picassos they ever owned over nine galleries. Sure, there is a smattering of Cezannes, Renoirs, and a few others, but the show is really about the how the Steins kick-started the careers of Henri and Pablo.
If you’ve seen Woody Allen’s re-creation of Gertrude’s place in Midnight in Paris, you might be surprised that learn that it was only a 460 square-foot studio. But what a collection of paintings moved around on those walls! Take a look. The Met has produced a brief video comprised of old photos from the decades that the Steins lived, entertained, collected, and schmoozed in that miniscule space, which had such an outsized influence on the direction of the 20th century avant-garde.
It took the Met eight years to pull all the works together (to raise money to buy more work, the Steins often sold off beloved favorites to the Cone sisters in Baltimore or Mr. Barnes in Philadelphia). If you want to know more, view the recording of the two-hour panel that the curator hosted back in April.
And go over and pay Gertrude and the family one last visit.
Any budding artist should see this… Not only for the romance, but to be encouraged to keep on working… Not every piece can be a masterpiece!