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11 Facts About Sarah Stein

1.

Sarah Stein was the daughter of a wealthy German-Jewish merchant.

2.

Sarah Stein was given the nickname "Sally" by Jack London.

3.

Sarah Stein next bought Matisse's La Raie verte, another of the misunderstood masterpieces from the mythical Salle des Fauves.

4.

Sarah Stein was one of Matisse's staunchest friends and supporters from 1905 until she and her husband left Paris in the 1930s.

5.

In 1908, with a little financial help of Michael, Sarah Stein persuaded Matisse to open a school of painting.

6.

At a time when Matisse was in considerable economic distress, Sarah Stein made him her hero, and many of her evenings at home with guests became opportunities for her to defend the work of this man who, she was convinced, was a great master.

7.

Sarah Stein stressed the value of working from the antique, and condemned any modern neglect of spiritual values.

8.

Sarah Stein possessed a number of qualities that predisposed her to embrace Christian Science: she was focused on her health and that of her family, open to spiritual and aesthetic experiences.

9.

Sarah Stein could be a good listener and a sympathetic advisor.

10.

Sarah Stein shared many of Le Corbusier's conviction about modern art, about the latest health and exercise regimens, and about the importance of new technology for the contemporary society.

11.

When Sarah Stein began to slowly disperse her art collection in the years before her death in 1953, Elise Stern Haas, wife of Walter A Haas, purchased a Matisse portrait of Sarah and convinced a Chicago collector, Nathan Cummings, to acquire a similar portrait of Michael, with the understanding that both would eventually become part of the collection of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.