On algebraic relations between solutions of a generic Painleve equation

We prove that if y" = f(y,y’,t,\alpha, \beta,…) is a generic Painleve equation (i.e. an equation in one of the families PI-PVI but with the complex parameters \alpha, \beta,… algebraically independent) then any algebraic dependence over C(t) between a set of solutions and their derivatives (y_1,…,y_n,y_1’,…,y_n’) is witnessed by a pair of solutions and their derivatives (y_i,y_i’,y_j,y_j’). The proof combines work by the Japanese school on “irreducibility” of the Painleve equations, with the trichomoty theorem for strongly minimal sets in differentially closed fields.