The Steins Collect: Matisse, Picasso and the Parisian Avant-Garde

Portrait of Gertrude Stein, Picasso

At the beginning of this summer, I visited the SFMOMA where I saw 'The Steins Collect'. While the collection features many paintings from 20th-century masters such as Matisse, Picasso, and Cezanne, the exhibit itself is more centered around the influence of the Stein family as a whole. 'The Steins Collect' focuses on the patronage of siblings Gertrude, Leo, and Michael Stein, and Michael's wife Sarah. Their financial and artistic support shaped the modern art of the 20th century, having influenced artists including Matisse, Picasso, Cezanne, Bonnard, Gris, Picabia and Renoir.

The exhibit itself is not filled with recognizable, iconic masterpieces, though there are some famous pieces like Matisse's Woman With a Hat. Instead, the exhibit features many works that had been commissioned by the Steins, from simple early sketches by Picasso to many of the Bathers series by Cezanne. As you wander through the exhibit, the chronology is something to pay attention to. Overtime, the pieces become more abstract and break from the standards of portraiture and art in general. Viewers will see the different stages Picasso went through in his career, from his Boy with a Horse, to the Blue and Rose periods, and then his cubist stage. Overall, this exhibit might not draw in 100% of its audience right away, and there will be pieces that viewers like and dislike. However, as a whole, the exhibit does a great job of highlighting the impact of the Stein family on 20th-century modern art.

To learn more about "The Steins Collect," visit the SFMOMA website.

Woman With a Hat, Matisse