Gertrude Stein's salon on the Left Bank of Paris in the 1920s was like
a clubhouse for modern artists--it was the place to go for people interested in new paintings and new ideas.
"A rose is a rose is a rose."
Artists, writers and others flocked to see her collection of strange new paintings by Picasso, Matisse and Cezanne. Picasso and Matisse themselves visited regularly, long before they were certified avant-garde royalty.
American writers like Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Sherwood Anderson and Thornton Wilder came by. They were all entranced by her warm and curious personality, and intrigued by what she had to say...
"Pigeons on the grass, alas."
Gertrude Stein wrote all through her lifetime, though she was almost 60 years old before she became well known as an author.
Her writing can be abstract, hard to follow, and even nonsensical, but the ideas behind it are smart and funny and amazing.
