A reunion of art is taking place in Paris right now, a unique exhibition still on display until January 22nd. Works that haven't been there together in almost a century are reunited once again. The art was collected by writer Gertrude Stein and her brothers starting in the early 1900s. The Steins bought paintings right out of the studios of young avant-garde artists — Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse and others who would become masters as the 20th century progressed

Patrons of avant-garde art

Some 200 paintings and other works acquired by the Steins are on display at the Grand Palais in Paris, where Matisse's "Femme Au Chapeau" (Woman with a Hat) scandalised visitors during an art exhibit at the Grand Palais in 1905. The show brings together masters who defined modern art - Matisse, Picasso, Renoir, Degas, Cezanne, Manet. Along the way, it tells the story of the role the Steins played in setting the direction of 20th-century art.

Gertrude and her brother Leo, an art critic, lived on the Left Bank's rue de Fleurus. Another brother Michael and his wife Sarah were nearby. They began befriending artists such as Matisse and Picasso shortly after arriving in Paris after the turn of the century. On Saturday nights, the Steins held an open house of sorts, during which visitors could come and meet the painters. It was the only place in Paris — let alone the world — where you could see such new and radical art. Artists, collectors, dealers came to view work that was revolutionary in the early 1900s.

"I think that it was Leo's eye that was the starting point for discovering Matisse, who wasn't having a lot of success at the time, and the young Picasso who wasn't exhibiting anywhere," said Cecile Debray, curator of the exhibit "Matisse, Cezanne, Picasso ... l'aventure des Stein." Michael and Sarah became the main promoters of Matisse, while Gertrude befriended Picasso, collecting works from his rose and blue periods and pre-Cubist paintings. The exhibit includes portraits of the Steins by Picasso, as well as letters, photos and audio readings by Gertrude.

The artworks were gathered from more than 100 collections on five different continents. These visual definitions of the meaning of modern art will be on display at the Grand Palais in Paris until mid-January.