a weird fact about the Matisse/Picasso relationship

The other day I was watching that Matisse/Picasso video again.

Something not mentioned in the video is that even though Matisse was 12 years older, he actually started painting one year after Picasso: Matisse didn’t start as an artist until age 20, while Picasso had started at 7.

Matisse’s mother brought him some art supplies while he was recovering from appendicitis. A total amateur who made a vocation of it. Just think if you’d told the convalescent amateur artist at that point that he would one day be in friendly rivalry for the king of European art with a 7-year-old kid in Spain who already had a year’s head start on him.

It would be interesting to do a parallel biography of the two from about 1888 onward, continuing all the way until their first meeting. It would be a fascinating study in artistic education, with two subjects learning the craft at completely different stages of personal development.