Les aventuriers de l’Art moderne — Épisode 2 : La bande de Picasso 1906 – 1916

Adapted from Dan Franck’s Le temps des bohèmes, this six-part series immerses viewers in the artistic and literary life of Paris from the early 20^th century to the end of World War Two. Using the codes of fiction and through archival documents and original animated sequences, the series looks at the lives of those who left their mark on this incredible period in modern art.

Picasso’s response to Matisse’s monumental Le bonheur de vivre was Les demoiselles d’Avignon. A harbinger of cubism, the painting sparked an uproar. In 1911, Apollinaire and Picasso got mixed up in a scandal involving the Mona Lisa. The case was dismissed but their friendship suffered. Soon break-ups began to occur. Enriched by record sales, Picasso left the group. Apollinaire moved into the heart of the Faubourg Saint-Germain. The poet Max Jacob, the poorest of them all, was one of the only ones to languish in poverty in Montmartre. When war erupted, the friends separated forever. Braque, Derain and Vlaminck went to the front. Picasso remained in Paris. On the front lines, Apollinaire was wounded in 1916.