Art News

Some 200 paintings and other works from the Steins’ collection at Paris’ Grand Palais

PARIS (AP).- The lady with the crazy hat is back, 106 years after she scandalized Parisians. Nearby is another woman of scandal, reclining naked, her body strangely contorted and tinted blue. These Matisse masterpieces are part of the art collection of writer Gertrude Stein and her brothers, Americans from San Francisco who set up in Paris and became legendary patrons of avant-garde art. Some 200 paintings and other works acquired by the Steins go on display Wednesday at the sumptuous Grand Palais, where Matisse’s “Femme Au Chapeau” (Woman with a Hat) scandalized visitors during an art exhibit at the Grand Palais in 1905. The show, on two floors, brings together masters who defined modern art — Matisse, Picasso, Renoir, Degas, Cezanne, Manet. Along the way, it tells the story of the important 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