Artwork Page for Portrait of a Woman

Details / Information for Portrait of a Woman

Portrait of a Woman

c. 1917–18

Amedeo Modigliani

(Italian, 1884–1920)
Culture
Italy, 20th century
Medium
oil on canvas
Measurements
Framed: 94.6 x 77.5 x 6 cm (37 1/4 x 30 1/2 x 2 3/8 in.); Unframed: 65 x 48.3 cm (25 9/16 x 19 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of the Hanna Fund 1951.358
Public Domain
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Location
223 20th Century Avant-Garde
Print
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Did You Know?

Modigliani drew and painted from an early age; when he was 11 years old, his mother predicted that he would become an artist.

Description

Born to a Sephardic Jewish family in Livorno, Italy, Amedeo Modigliani studied briefly in Florence and Venice before moving to Paris in 1906 where he became a key member of the avant-garde art world. His portraits, known for their subtle color and elegantly elongated forms, chronicle the lives of fellow artists and poets, although the woman in this painting remains unidentified.
A vertically oriented portrait in streaking oil paint depicts a woman with light skin tone from the shoulders up, her body elongated, especially the neck, and features outlined in thin, black lines. Her short, red-brown hair covers her ears and merges with the red-brown background. She sits slightly off-center, to our left, head tilting to our left as her green eyes look down, lips painted red. She wears a black V-neck with gray sleeves, a yellow-gold circle below the "v."

Portrait of a Woman

c. 1917–18

Amedeo Modigliani

(Italian, 1884–1920)
Italy, 20th century

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