This work accompanies an exhibition organised, in partnership, by Tate Modern, the Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, and the Museum of Modern Art. It examines the crucial relationship between Matisse and Picasso. The introduction explains the way in which the work of each artist both inspired and often provoked the other. The illustrations of the paintings and sculptures are grouped in sections, each accompanied by an introductory text, with the intention of demonstrating evidence of artistic encounters between Matisse and Picasso over the course of their careers. In fact later in life Picasso himself stated that time would show that he and Matisse had been following very similar paths during the years that had established their individual artistic supremacy.