Museum Exhibit Displays Gertrude Stein and Family’s Importance on Modern Art

Good news for all folks who would relish the opportunity to venture back in time, to say Gertrude Stein’s famed salon at 27 Rue de Fleurus in 1920’s Paris – New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art has a new exhibit aptly titled, "The Steins Collect: Matisse, Picasso, and the Parisian Avant-Garde".

Equally famous for her prowess as an art collector as for her writing, Gertrude Stein and her two brothers, Leo and Michael, left an indelible mark on modern art in early 20th century Paris.

"During the first decade of the 20th century arguably the Steins did more than any other collector or dealer to advance the cause of modern art," explained Rebecca Rabinow, a curator at the Met’s Department of Modern and Contemporary Art.

“The installation here at the Met tells the story of the Steins as an American family who moved to Paris in the early years of the 20th century and befriended artists who were at that point basically unknown. The Steins introduced Matisse to Picasso, and their apartment was the one place in Paris that dealers, collectors and other international artists could go to see the most recent art of the day,” Rabinow told the New York Times.

Running until June 3, the exhibition consists of two hundred works of art including paintings, sculptures and prints by Paul Cézanne, Auguste Renoir, Juan Gris, and of course, Matisse and Picasso, amongst others.