Pulitzer Prizewinning art critic Sebastian Smee tells the fascinating story of four pairs of artistsManet and Degas, Picasso and Matisse, Pollock and de Kooning, Freud and Baconwhose fraught, competitive friendships spurred them to new creative heights.

Rivalry is at the heart of some of the most famous and fruitful relationships in history. The Art of Rivalry follows eight celebrated artists, each linked to a counterpart by friendship, admiration, envy, and ambition. All eight are household names today. But to achieve what they did, each needed the influence of a contemporaryone who was equally ambitious but possessed sharply contrasting strengths and weaknesses.