Exhibitions Dynamic Duo

The artists met in 1906 and began a rivalry that lasted even beyond Matisse’s death in 1954. (Picasso survived him.) Matisse, it turns out, painted some pretty dark, angular and quirky stuff. His radically simple painting “The Joy of Life” (1906) bugged Picasso for decades. He answered with hard-core cubism. Matisse shot back with an all-red studio interior. Picasso replied with, well, a whole lot of stuff. In boxing terms–and their first duo exhibition in 1918 was installed like one–Matisse is Muhammad Ali, coloring as lusciously as a butterfly and composing as stingingly as a bee. Picasso is Joe Frazier, moving forward, every inventive punch a potential knockout. The show demonstrates that both artists were, of course, champions. But it hints that the smart money might be on Matisse.

title: “Exhibitions Dynamic Duo” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-25” author: “Alan Murphy”

The artists met in 1906 and began a rivalry that lasted even beyond Matisse’s death in 1954. (Picasso survived him.) Matisse, it turns out, painted some pretty dark, angular and quirky stuff. His radically simple painting “The Joy of Life” (1906) bugged Picasso for decades. He answered with hard-core cubism. Matisse shot back with an all-red studio interior. Picasso replied with, well, a whole lot of stuff. In boxing terms–and their first duo exhibition in 1918 was installed like one–Matisse is Muhammad Ali, coloring as lusciously as a butterfly and composing as stingingly as a bee. Picasso is Joe Frazier, moving forward, every inventive punch a potential knockout. The show demonstrates that both artists were, of course, champions. But it hints that the smart money might be on Matisse.