Pablo Picasso''s "Three Musicians, 1921" (L) and Stuart Davis"Colonial Cubism, 1954"

His admiring comment opens a groundbreaking exhibition at New York''s Whitney Museum which examines the fundamental role Picasso played in the development of American art during the last century.

Though Picasso, who was born in Spain and lived in France, never set foot in the United States, his works began arriving in the country at the beginning of the 20th century and made a major impact.

The "Picasso and American Art" exhibit occupies an entire floor of the Whitney Museum and features a diverse group of American artists, whose works are juxtaposed with Picasso''s, include Max Weber, Stuart Davis, Arshile Gorky, John Graham, Willem de Kooning, Jackson Pollock and Andy Warhol.

Among the masterpieces on display is "Still Life", the first Picasso painting to arrive in the United States.