Modern Couples: Art, Intimacy, and the Avant-Garde

This course explores how artist partnerships can serve as a hotbed for creativity and innovation. We examine the complex lives of famous artist couples—including Camille Claudel and Auguste Rodin, Dora Maar and Pablo Picasso, Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, Lee Miller and Man Ray, Josef and Anni Albers, Lee Krasner and Jackson Pollock, and Merce Cunningham and John Cage—and analyze how the unique and often turbulent relationships between these artists influenced their creative processes and artistic output. In addition, we delve into creative friendships that inspired collaborations among such artistic duos as Cézanne and Pissarro, Matisse and Derain, and Picasso and Braque. The bond, and sometimes clash, between these artists not only shaped their personal lives but also had a profound impact on the artistic movements of their time. Museum visits and gallery excursions, as well as Sebastian Smee’s “The Art of Rivalry: Four Friendships, Betrayals, and Breakthroughs in Modern Art,” will complement this course.

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