Pablo Picasso's adult years were times which bore witness to the most swift technological and social changes in 20th century history. At the center of all this was Gertrude Stein - the patron of modern art. Between before the start of World War I and until around before the start of World War II, Gertrude's salon on every Saturday evening at 27 Rue de Fleurus in Paris was a must-attend event for every American musicians, painters, writers who came to France. "Picasso," Gertrude explained, "was always possessed by the necessity of emptying himself...He can never empty himself of being Spanish, but he can empty himself of what he has created...So everyone says that he changes but really it is not that." Pablo maintained, "Whatever the source of the emotion that drives me to create, I want to give it some connection with the visible world..."
In describing the people of the 1920s who lost their values and belief, Gertrude told Ernest Hemingway, "All of you young people who served in the war...you are all a lost generation". F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote about this generation in his 1920 book, 'This Side of Paradise'. Gertrude reportedly "schooled (Hemingway) in the art of using simple words and making direct statements." She had said, "One century has words, another century chooses words, another century uses words, and then another century using words no longer has them." Gertrude's best-known book 'The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas' was published in 1933. "I have been the creative literary mind of the century," she made known. "Think of the Bible and Homer, think of Shakespeare and think of me." Gertrude's most talked about phrase was "A rose is a rose is a rose is a rose."
In 2011, Kathy Bates played Gertrude Stein in the Woody Allen's movie, 'Midnight In Paris'. Woody recounted, "They were easy for me to capture in the writing. I could write them off the top of my head. Because after all, who was I dealing with? Salvador Dali, Gertrude Stein, Picasso, the Fitzgeralds - these are people we know from high school...We have one conception of things from the past. And certainly in my movie, that's what I wanted to trade on. But I'm sure if you were sitting in a restaurant with Salvador Dali and Luis Bunuel, they spoke very differently from what you'd imagine."
