Picasso And Matisse

3 Pages 645 Words

Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse are two of the greatest painters and sculptors of the 20th century. These two great artist are complete opposites “as different as the north pole is from the south pole”(Richardson 147) is how Matisse described Picasso and himself to Gertrude Stein, a biographer. Matisse is a man from northern France and Picasso is very much a man from southern Spain. Picasso, ten years younger than Matisse produced provocative art that resembled Matisse’s style and creativity. These two fine artists developed a bond with each other in their lives. Their attitudes reflected their competitiveness to generate art crackles with “I-can-do-anything-better-than-you rivalry and flashes of contagious genius.”(Richardson 147) It seems as if these two godly painters had a magnetic pull between them, a yin-yang polarity that allowed for a constant shift in the roles of supplier and stealer, leader and follower, hero and antihero.
Even though Picasso and Matisse are rivals they became oriented with each other’s work. The two artists held meetings that allowed them to explore what fueled their passion for art. Picasso and Matisse regularly subjected each other’s work to intense scrutiny. “Whether they approved or disapproved of what the other was up to they understood each other as only two titans could.”(Richardson 147) The artists made a strong impact on the world with their rich works. Critics felt it was only doing the paintings justice to ask the artist what the art meant to them personally. The people who inquired about Picasso’s work would easily irritate him as he was unable to describe it in any detail. Matisse, in contrast, displayed an amazing expressiveness of mind. He was precise, concise, intelligent and impressed people. Matisse’s frame of mind is very equipped as he reflects it with the capacity in which he expresses his thinking. Maybe Picasso did not want to articulate on his work to the world...