In Montmartre

Picasso, Matisse and the Birth of Modernist Art

By: Sue Roe

Narrated by: Emma Bering

A lively and deeply researched group biography of the figures who transformed the world of art in bohemian Paris in the first decade of the twentieth century

In Montmartre is a colorful history of the birth of Modernist art as it arose from one of the most astonishing collections of artistic talent ever assembled. It begins in October 1900, as a teenage Pablo Picasso, eager for fame and fortune, first makes his way up the hillside of Paris’s famous windmill-topped district. Over the next decade, among the studios, salons, cafés, dance halls, and galleries of Montmartre, the young Spaniard joins the likes of Henri Matisse, André Derain, Maurice de Vlaminck, Georges Braque, Amedeo Modigliani, Constantin Brancusi, Gertrude Stein, and many more, in revolutionizing artistic expression.

Sue Roe has blended exceptional scholarship with graceful prose to write this remarkable group portrait of the men and women who profoundly changed the arts of painting, sculpture, dance, music, literature, and fashion. She describes the origins of movements like Fauvism, Cubism, and Futurism, and reconstructs the stories behind immortal paintings by Picasso and Matisse. Relating the colorful lives and complicated relationships of this dramatic bohemian scene, Roe illuminates the excitement of the moment when these bold experiments in artistic representation and performance began to take shape.

A thrilling account, In Montmartre captures an extraordinary group on the cusp of fame and immortality. Through their stories, Roe brings to life one of the key moments in the history of art.

Praise for In Montmartre

"Lively and engaging….[Readers] will find a fresh sense of how all these people—the geniuses and the hangers-on, the wealthy collectors and the unworldly painters—related to each other…..In [Roe’s] entertaining, ingeniously structured account Roe brings Montmatre’s hedyday back to life." —Sunday Times (London)

"With evocative imagery Roe sketches out the intensely visual spectacle on which Montmatre’s artistic community was able to draw…. Roe is particularly good at communicating the extraordinary devotion of Matisse and Picasso to their work." —Financial Times

Critic reviews

Associated Press:
“A lively and concise account...[Roe is] very good at synthesizing and distilling complicated art movements and ideas without getting bogged down in technical details or jargon. And she offers up plenty of juicy tidbits about the artists' love affairs, infidelities, opium parties and eccentric habits…Roe's book is a great introduction to one of the most pivotal periods in 20th century art. Even those familiar with the era will likely find that it broadens their understanding of key players and events.”

Minneapolis Star Tribune:
“Bold, bright and entertaining… Full of life and color…[Roe] is particularly gifted at describing paintings, conjuring them up in bold, strong strokes…Roe brings an equal incisiveness to her discussions of art, explaining the overlap among painting, music, literature, couture and dance and the driving forces behind the explorations that artists in all these fields were engaged in.”

Christian Science Monitor:
“Engaging and insightful…Roe assembles the complex, disparate developments of the decade into a compulsively readable, fascinating story.”

Dallas Morning News:
“[IN MONTMARTRE] reads at times like a novel…[and] has scholarly heft…The prose is lively and clear…Anyone who has stood before a work of art and wondered about the artist’s inspiration — particularly modernist art, which can be provocative and challenging — will appreciate Sue Roe’s ability to draw back the curtain on this critical period.”

Sunday Times (London):
"Lively and engaging….[Readers] will find a fresh sense of how all these people—the geniuses and the hangers-on, the wealthy collectors and the unworldly painters—related to each other…..In [Roe’s] entertaining, ingeniously structured account Roe brings Montmatre’s hedyday back to life."

Financial Times:
"With evocative imagery Roe sketches out the intensely visual spectacle on which Montmatre’s artistic community was able to draw…. Roe is particularly good at communicating the extraordinary devotion of Matisse and Picasso to their work."

The Guardian:
"What an eye for art Roe has ... we're still gripped by the story of the dialogue between Picasso and Matisse ... and by this book's own brilliant dance."

Daily Telegraph:
"As an elegant synthesis of complex material, it excels : Roe is a skilled and graceful writer, capable of an accessible, nimble narrative .... In an important sense ... this book is timely ... it is a quintessential biography of the Facebook era, since its real subject is a social network."

The Spectator:
"Sue Roe has written a portrait in words of an era."

Very annoying reading

I hated the reading by this woman. Every time she said “”Montmartre” it sounded like she was hacking up a hairball.

Authoritative Lively Informative History Analysis

An authoritative, lively, Informative telling of the life of an era. I learned a great deal about the personalities, the art, and the relationship of many prominent artists, dancers, collectors. Highly recommended. I intend to immediately continue with the same writer's IN MONTPARNASSE to follow the rest of the history of the development of modern art.

Loved the author’s French accent!

I loved hearing the names of artists pronounced so beautifully. Listened as preparation for viewing the “Picasso Figures” exhibition in Nashville TN. Very enlightening.

Skillfully balanced, Entertaining, Informative

To capture the story of the culture and artistic community in Montmartre, (and that greater region), during that period, with all the well-known historical characters, is a monumentally intimidating task. Sue Roe deserves praise for just taking on the task. But then she delivers this work which is successful in so many more ways than I expected.

The Author does a wonderful job of not only taking us into the history of the events of the period but also escorts us through in a way that allows is, with a touch of imagination, to experience it for ourselves. But then, to top that off, she really captures the essences of and takes us to excellent understandings of the minds and motivations of such big characters as Picasso, Matisse, Gertrude Stein, Fernande Olivier, Braque, and so many more. BUT WAIT, she then gets around all the misinformation and hype that exists (and there's a lot) about what motivated Matisse, Picasso, Braque and others and about what they were trying to accomplish. She brings readers to a much more accurate understanding of this uniquely transformational period in Western art history.

Very well done.

"I have created cubism!"...
... is something no one ever said!

Excellent

Loved it. Well written wit endless details about each of the artists featured in the book and remarkable description of the era in which those artists began their work.