A review by johndiconsiglio
The Art of Rivalry: Four Friendships, Betrayals, and Breakthroughs in Modern Art by Sebastian Smee

3.0

Pulitzer-winning art critic dissects 4 friendships—Freud/Bacon, Manet/Degas, Matisse/Picasso, de Kooning/Pollock—& how they changed modern art. But let’s skip the high brow stuff & go right to the juicy gossip that makes this book fun. Freud declined a wedding invite because he’d not only slept with the bride but also the groom & the groom’s mother. Manet took a knife to a Degas painting of Mrs. M. Picasso’s lover sent their adopted preteen daughter back to the orphanage rather than risk her in the leering artist’s studio. Keep your phone handy to Google painting references.