Even the most well versed museum curator has nothing on the Cone sisters.

If a museum curator were to acquire one piece of art every day for eight years, he would still be more than 100 pieces short of the Cone sisters’ 3,000-piece collection.

"Matisse and More: The Claribel and Etta Cone Collection," which highlights 25 works from this diverse, world-renowned collection, opened Feb. 10 at the Weatherspoon Art Museum at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

Daughters of Jewish immigrants who found success in the Baltimore textile business, the Cones had the necessary funds to build their collection.

In 1898, Etta bought five paintings by American Impressionist Theodore Robinson to decorate the family’s parlor. These five paintings generated a lifetime of collecting.

The Cone sisters were true art connoisseurs, spotting talented artists before their time. The sisters’ close friendship with eccentric writer Gertrude Stein led them to Paris and into the studios of Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse. The sisters bought pieces from both artists, whose avant-garde techniques were not yet appreciated.

The exhibit displays art from Picasso and Matisse that few gallery-goers see. Often, museum visitors expect to see famous completed masterworks. Yet, in this exhibit, few completed paintings can be found.

Picasso’s "The Coiffure," a simple small-scale line drawing of two women, is far removed from the artist’s known cubistic form and large-scale masterworks.

Furthermore, Matisse’s "Sleeping Figure with Babouches," containing more realism and detail than is often associated with the artist, is distant from his famous series "Blue Nudes."

In addition, the collection houses lesser-known artist’s works such as "Untitled [Adam and Eve]" by Gertraud Brausewetter.

The intricate carvings of this wood engraving are a testament to the sisters’ unbiased desire to obtain art from a multitude of artists with varying reputations.

Claribel and Etta Cone collected paintings, drawings, sculpture, books, fine antiques, lace and jewelry for more than 40 years.

Additionally, the Cone collection boasts famous names such as Edgar Degas, Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, Paul Cézanne, Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin, along with the numerous works by Picasso and Matisse.

In her 1949 will, Etta Cone bequeathed her family’s acquisitions to the Baltimore Museum of Art, calling to improve the spirit of appreciation of modern art in the city.