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The painting is Le Groupe des Six, 1922 by Jacques-Emile Blanche. In the center, pianist Marcelle Meyer; from bottom to top: Germaine Tailleferre, Darius Milhaud, Arthur Honegger, Jean Wiener; on the right: Georges Auric, Francis Poulenc, Jean Cocteau. Here Jean Wiener, pianist, replaces Louis Durey who left the group in 1921.
In 1917, when many theatres and concert halls were closed because of the war, Blaise Cendrars and the painter Moise Kisling decided to put on a concert at 6 Rue Huyghens, the studio of the painter Emile Lejeune. For this event, the walls of the studio were decorated with canvases by Picasso, Matisse, Leger, Modigliani and others. Music by Satie, Honegger, Auric and Durey was played. It was this concert that gave Erik Satie the idea of assembling a group of composers around himself to be known as the "Nouveaux Jeunes", forerunners of Les Six.
Following the ideas of Erik Satie and Jean Cocteau, the group wrote music together, including a ballet. The artists of "Les Six" collectively championed the avant-garde and surrealism in music and the arts. Although they wrote some music together, each one maintained their individual style.
The members of "Les Six" were:
Music from Erik Satie & Les Six: