Overview: 152 paintings, installed by chief curator Perry B. Cott, were divided in 2 sections. The first showed paintings by the founders of the modern movement: Pierre Bonnard, Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, Henri Matisse, and others; the second the succeeding generations: Balthus, Pierre Soulages, Yves Klein, Arman, Jean Messagier, and others. The second section received harsh reviews; when the show arrived in Boston, it had shrunk to 105 paintings.

Organization: Organized and circulated by the International Exhibitions Foundation, this survey was formed to counteract the opinion of some critics that the dominant school of New York was obscuring the school of Paris. Under the patronage of the Ministry of Cultural Affairs, with the cooperation of the Musée National d'Art Moderne, loans were obtained from French public and private collections. The exhibition came at a time of strong anti-French and anti-de Gaulle sentiments in the United States. In many cities there were boycotts against French wines, French perfumes, and other products from France.

Other Venues:

• Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
• Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
• Art Institute of Chicago
• M.H. de Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco