The term 'The Lost Generation' was coined by Gertrude Stein to describe the group of American writers living in Paris after World War I, including Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald. Stein’s salon at 27 rue de Fleurus became the epicenter of the avant-garde, where literature met modern art. She was a major patron of Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse long before they were famous. Her own writing style was experimental, focusing on the 'continuous present' and the use of repetition to break down the traditional meaning of words, famously seen in her phrase 'Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose.' Her memoir, 'The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas,' written from the perspective of her life partner, provided a definitive look into the lives of the artists who redefined the 20th century.