1881-1973

When it comes to drawing, nothing is better than the first sketch` Picasso commented, contrasting his own impulsive style with Matisse’s painstaking process of successively revising and simplifying his graphic works.

Early in their careers, Picasso & Matisse (1917-23) both artists regarded drawing as an essential tool, an aid to their experiments in painting. For Picasso drawing was a way of testing radically different styles when developing his increasingly complex compositions.