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

May 21, 2011 - Sep 06, 2011
American expatriates in bohemian Paris when the 20th century was young, the Steins — writer Gertrude, her brothers Leo and Michael, and Michael's wife, Sarah — were among the first to recognize the talents of avant-garde painters like Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso. Through their friendship and patronage, they helped spark an artistic revolution. This landmark exhibition draws on collections around the world to reunite the Steins' unparalleled collections of modern art, bringing together, for the first time in a generation, dozens of works by Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Paul Cézanne, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and many others. Artworks on view include Matisse's Blue Nude (Baltimore Museum of Art)and Self-Portrait (Statens Museum, Copenhagen), and Picasso's famous portrait Gertrude Stein (Metropolitan Museum of Art).

Together with its accompanying mobile tour, The Steins Collect offers a rare, in-depth encounter with the artworks and the extraordinary people behind the birth of modern art.

American expatriates in bohemian Paris when the 20th century was young, the Steins — writer Gertrude, her brothers Leo and Michael, and Michael's wife, Sarah — were among the first to recognize the talents of avant-garde painters like Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso. Through their friendship and patronage, they helped spark an artistic revolution. This landmark exhibition draws on collections around the world to reunite the Steins' unparalleled collections of modern art, bringing together, for the first time in a generation, dozens of works by Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Paul Cézanne, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and many others. Artworks on view include Matisse's Blue Nude (Baltimore Museum of Art)and Self-Portrait (Statens Museum, Copenhagen), and Picasso's famous portrait Gertrude Stein (Metropolitan Museum of Art).

Together with its accompanying mobile tour, The Steins Collect offers a rare, in-depth encounter with the artworks and the extraordinary people behind the birth of modern art.

Contact details

Thursdays
Sunday - Tuesday
10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Thursday
10:00 AM - 9:00 PM
Friday - Saturday
10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Member Preview Days All members Fourth-floor galleries Thursday, May 19, 11:00 a.m. - 8:45 p.m. Friday, May 20, 11:00 a.m. - 5:45 p.m. The Steins Collect: Matisse, Picasso, and the Parisian Avant-Garde is open exclusively for members on these days. Regular member guest privileges apply. Part of The Steins Collect Member Previews.
May 19, 2011
11:00 AM - 8:45 PM
Curator Panel: Phyllis Wattis Theater 7:00 p.m. Reassembling long-dispersed historical collections that had tremendous impacts on the trajectory of modern art, The Steins Collect presents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to experience and understand a central moment in the history of art. This panel explores the exhibition's intertwining stories with the four curators who collaborated for four years to produce it. $10 general; $7 SFMOMA members, students, seniors. Gallery access requires a separate museum admission ticket.
May 19, 2011
7:00 PM
Member Preview Days All members Fourth-floor galleries Thursday, May 19, 11:00 a.m. - 8:45 p.m. Friday, May 20, 11:00 a.m. - 5:45 p.m. The Steins Collect: Matisse, Picasso, and the Parisian Avant-Garde is open exclusively for members on these days. Regular member guest privileges apply. Part of The Steins Collect Member Previews.
May 20, 2011
11:00 AM - 5:45 PM
General Member Party All members Museumwide 7:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m. Celebrate the Steins and bohemian Paris with live performances and music curated by Tyson Vogel. Dress the part and join our outrageous hat contest inspired by Matisse's Woman with a Hat. Plus enjoy late-night dining at Caffè Museo and our Rooftop Coffee Bar. Galleries close at 9:45 p.m. Part of The Steins Collect Member Previews. Bring your invitation for admission for two
May 20, 2011
7:00 - 10:00 PM
Daily Video Screenings : Paris Was a Woman Koret Visitor Education Center Daily (except Wednesdays), 4:00 p.m. Greta Schiller, 1995, 75 min. Free with museum admission.
May 21, 2011
4:00 PM
Curator Talk : Jared Ledesma on Henri Matisse's Boy with a Butterfly Net Jared Ledesma, project research assistant, SFMOMA Meet in the Haas Atrium before moving into the galleries. 6:30 p.m. Each Thursday evening, one of SFMOMA's curators or specialists shares a perspective on a single artist or artwork on view. Talks last 20 minutes. Part of One on One. Free with special exhibition admission.
June 02, 2011
6:30 PM
Phyllis Wattis Distinguished Lecture : Wayne Koestenbaum, cultural critic and distinguished professor of English, City University of New York Phyllis Wattis Theater 7:00 p.m. Essayist, cultural critic, and poet Koestenbaum is one of the most energetic and original writers working today. With books like The Queen's Throat: Opera, Homosexuality and the Mystery of Desire, and Hotel Theory, he has made an unparalleled contribution to the writing of queer cultural history. Gertrude Stein was a key figure in that history as well as in the development of modern art in early 20th-century Paris. For this year's Phyllis Wattis Distinguished Lecture, SFMOMA has commissioned Koestenbaum to write a new piece related to The Steins Collect; his topic: painting and writing. $10 general; $7 SFMOMA members, seniors, and students
June 02, 2011
7:00 PM
Reciprocal Member Day All day In conjunction with the Yerba Buena neighborhood celebration of Gertrude Stein, members of SFMOMA, the Contemporary Jewish Museum, and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts can enjoy complimentary reciprocal admission on Saturday, June 4, 2011. Present your valid SFMOMA membership card for free admission for two at the CJM or YBCA.
June 04, 2011
8:00 AM
Gertrude Stein Epic Reading Haas Atrium 11:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. Stop by to hear Bay Area poets read Gertrude Stein's epic The Making of Americans from start to finish in the Haas Atrium. Free and open to the public.
June 04, 2011
11:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Panel Discussion: Queer Culture and Artists' Circles Tammy Rae Carland, artist Jonathan Katz, chair, Visual Studies Doctoral Program, SUNY, Buffalo Wayne Koestenbaum, cultural critic and distinguished professor of English, City University of New York Phyllis Wattis Theater 4:30 p.m. Carland, Katz, and Koestenbaum discuss how artistic circles form and transform visual and literary artistic practices, and the place of such circles in queer histories of modern and contemporary culture. This panel coincides with our program Living Room, which explores the function of the salon in supporting marginal or emerging ideas and practices. Koestenbaum is SFMOMA's 2010 Phyllis Wattis distinguished lecturer. Katz curated Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture and is the author of The Homosexualization of American Art: Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg and the Collective Closet. Carland is the former manager of Mr. Lady Records and Videos, an independent producer and distributor of queer and feminist music and video. Free and open to the public.
June 04, 2011
4:30 PM
Gertrude Stein Live! Frank Smigiel, associate curator of public programs, SFMOMA Phyllis Wattis Theater noon Smigiel explores the live iterations of Gertrude Stein's work, from poetry readings to performances, as he prepares for SFMOMA's August production of her Four Saints in Three Acts. This opera, a landmark collaboration with the composer Virgil Thomson, is re-presented through the creative lens of chamber opera experimentalists Ensemble Parallèle, composer Luciano Chessa, and video/performance artist Kalup Linzy. Additional guests to be announced. Museum and program admission are free.RelatedThe Steins Collect May 21 - September 06, 2011 ExhibitionsThe Steins Collect 05/21/11 - 09/06/11 Hours + Directions San Francisco Museum of Modern Art 151 Third Street between Mission + Howard Streets San Francisco, California 94103 USA Copyright © 1998 – 2011 San Francisco Museum of Modern ArtPrivacy Policy Terms of Use Contact Us E.news Signup My Account
June 07, 2011
12:00 PM
Curator Talk: Suzanne Stein on Marie Laurencin's Apollinaire and His Friends… Suzanne Stein, community producer, SFMOMA Meet in the Haas Atrium before moving into the galleries. 6:30 p.m. Each Thursday evening, one of SFMOMA's curators or specialists shares a perspective on a single artist or artwork on view. Talks last 20 minutes. Part of One on One. Free with timed ticket for The Steins Collect.
June 09, 2011
6:30 PM
Film Screening: The Sun Also Rises Phyllis Wattis Theater 7:00 p.m. Henry King, 1957, 130 min., 35mm King's 1957 interpretation of Ernest Hemingway's novel illuminates the condition and characteristics of post-World War I expatriates in Paris, dubbed "The Lost Generation" by Hemingway's friend, mentor, and patron Gertrude Stein. The contingent of American writers and artists included F. Scott Fitzgerald, T. S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, and many others, with Stein at the creative helm. This film follows Hemingway's narrator Jake Barnes through romantic dalliances, existential digressions, and moments of both inspiration and despair to emerge with a profound understanding of the recurrent themes of avant-garde life and literature. Part of Stein High/Stein Low. $5 general; free for SFMOMA members or with museum admission (requires a free ticket, which can be picked up in the Haas Atrium).
June 09, 2011
7:00 PM
The Steins Collect: Matisse, Picasso, and the Parisian Avant-Garde Koret Visitor Education Center 9:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. The Contemporary Jewish Museum partners with SFMOMA to present a Teacher Institute exploring how leading artists of early 20th-century Paris, such as Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso, represented the vibrant cultural life of the day in their work. Experience the SFMOMA exhibition The Steins Collect: Matisse, Picasso, and the Parisian Avant-Garde, which reunites the collections of author Gertrude Stein, her brothers Leo and Michael, and Michael's wife Sarah. Then, get a behind-the-scenes look at Gertrude's domestic life, salons, and friendships with artists with a visit to the CJM's exhibition Seeing Gertrude Stein: Five Stories. Designed for high school teachers, the workshop includes private gallery tours, hands-on activities, and an education packet. $40 general; $32 SFMOMA members and CJM members. Please register through SFMOMA, by completing the Teacher Programs application and returning it with a nonrefundable check. Sorry, we cannot accept credit cards. For more information, call the SFMOMA Teacher Programs Office at 415.357.4067.
June 11, 2011
9:30 AM - 1:00 PM
Curator Talk : Janet Bishop on Henri Matisse's Portraits of Sarah and Michael Stein Janet Bishop, curator of painting and sculpture, SFMOMA Meet in the Haas Atrium before moving into the galleries. 6:30 p.m. Each Thursday evening, one of SFMOMA's curators or specialists shares a perspective on a single artist or artwork on view. Talks last 20 minutes. Part of One on One. Free with timed ticket for The Steins Collect.
June 16, 2011
6:30 PM
Film Screening: The Moderns Phyllis Wattis Theater 7:00 p.m. Alan Rudolph, 1988, 126 min., 35mm The Moderns follows Nick Hart, a struggling painter at the center of the expatriate culture of 1920s Paris, as he navigates the Left Bank milieu. From cafe conversations to sordid love intrigue, sketching caricatures to forging paintings, Hart comes in contact with not only Gertrude Stein and others in her salon circle, but also a dangerous businessman, the husband of one of his paramours. Part of Stein High/Stein Low. $5 general; free for SFMOMA members or with museum admission (requires a free ticket, which can be picked up in the Haas Atrium).
June 16, 2011
7:00 PM
Curator Talk: Carrie Pilto on Le Corbusier's Villa Stein-de Monzie Carrie Pilto, assistant curator of painting and sculpture, SFMOMA Meet in the Haas Atrium before moving into the galleries. 6:30 p.m. Each Thursday evening, one of SFMOMA's curators or specialists shares a perspective on a single artist or artwork on view. Talks last 20 minutes. Part of One on One. Free with timed ticket for The Steins Collect.
June 23, 2011
6:30 PM
Film Screening: I Love You, Alice B. Toklas Phyllis Wattis Theater 7:00 p.m. Hy Averback, 1968, 92 min., video Averback's 1968 film stars Peter Sellers as Harold Fine, an uptight lawyer who is uninspired with approaching middle age and his upcoming nuptials. Harold's life is changed forever when he falls in love with Nancy, a free-spirited young hippie who turns him on with a "groovy" brownie recipe taken out of Alice B. Toklas's infamous cookbook. Part of Stein High/Stein Low. $5 general; free for SFMOMA members or with museum admission (requires a free ticket, which can be picked up in the Haas Atrium).
June 23, 2011
7:00 PM
Curator Talk: Kate Mendillo on Henri Matisse's Blue Nude: Memory of Biskra Kate Mendillo, curatorial project manager, SFMOMA Meet in the Haas Atrium before moving into the galleries. 6:30 p.m. Each Thursday evening, one of SFMOMA's curators or specialists shares a perspective on a single artist or artwork on view. Talks last 20 minutes. Part of One on One. Free with timed ticket for The Steins Collect.
June 30, 2011
6:30 PM
Film Screening: The Virgin Machine Phyllis Wattis Theater 7:00 p.m. Monika Treut, 1988, 84 min., 16mm With a nod to The Wizard of Oz, German journalist Dorothee (Ina Blum) writes about the perils of finding love. Her research takes her from Germany deep into San Francisco's lesbian culture, where she meets Ramona (Shelly Mars). From here Dorothee finds herself on a romantic and sensual journey of selfawareness. Part of Stein High/Stein Low. $5 general; free for SFMOMA members or with museum admission (requires a free ticket, which can be picked up in the Haas Atrium).
June 30, 2011
7:00 PM
151 Third Street San Francisco, CA, USA 94103

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