Studio International

Published 11/12/2001

Matisse cross-country people-carrier required

Tate Modern will launch its spring megashow, MatissePicasso, on 11 May 2002. For the first time the show assembles a massive, representative selection of the work of both artists altogether, which will also illustrate their competition with each other ever since their first meeting at Gertrude and Leo Stein’s Paris studio in l906. But is this to be a level playing field? Have the goal posts been made movable? Did they really become friends during the wartime occupation of Paris? Can Renault, or Peugeot quickly come up with a design called the Matisse? How many points for the Citroen Picasso, alors de trop?