RALEIGH, N.C.— The North Carolina Museum of Art presents some of the nation’s finest works of modern art with Matisse, Picasso, and the School of Paris: Masterpieces from The Baltimore Museum of Art. The included works of art were carefully chosen for this show, creating a one-of-a-kind exhibition that features some of the world’s finest modern masterpieces. Many of the works selected for Matisse, Picasso, and the School of Paris rarely travel, and most have never before visited the Southeast.

“This group of modern paintings, sculptures, and drawings represents the finest exhibition of this work ever shown in North Carolina or the Southeast,” said Museum Director Lawrence J. Wheeler. “It really is a once-in-a-lifetime exhibition.”

Matisse, Picasso, and the School of Paris explores the vibrant creativity of the artists who made Paris the center of modern art and culture from the late 19th century to the outbreak of the Second World War.

The unique exhibition features selections from the Collection of Etta and Claribel Cone, the wealthy and adventurous sisters who acquired a vast collection of modern art, including over 400 works by Matisse and over 100 by Picasso. The Cone’s fortune derived in part from textile mills in the Carolinas. Their collection was bequeathed to The Baltimore Museum of Art, where it now resides.

The exhibition features some of the finest works from the Cone Collection and gives star billing to Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso, the preeminent masters of the 20th century. Matisse, Picasso, and the School of Paris features 35 paintings, sculptures, and drawings by the famous artists. Other artists featured in the exhibition include Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cézanne, Bonnard, Monet, Rodin, Degas, Modigliani, Braque, Léger, and Giacometti, among many others.