Portrait of a Woman
c. 1917/19
Medium
Oil on cardboard
Dimensions
55.9 × 45.4 cm (22 × 17 7/8 in.)
Classification
painting
Department
Modern Art
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
80586
Art Historical Context
Amedeo Modigliani’s *Portrait of a Woman* (c. 1917/19) captures the quiet elegance that defines his mature work. Working in Paris during the height of the modernist era, the Italian-born artist developed a distinctive style marked by elongated forms, almond-shaped eyes, and graceful, simplified contours. Rather than detailed likenesses, his portraits convey a sense of inner presence and serene dignity, reflecting both his admiration for Renaissance masters and the influence of African sculpture and contemporary avant-garde movements. Painted in oil on cardboard, this modestly scaled work (rou...
About the Artist
Amedeo Modigliani · 1884–1920
Amedeo Modigliani (1884–1920) was an Italian painter and sculptor whose elegant, elongated figures and portraits rank among the most instantly recognizable images in modern art. Born in Livorno, Tuscany, to a Sephardic Jewish family, he studied at the academies of Florence and Venice before moving permanently to Paris in 1906, where he immersed himself in the bohemian artistic milieu of Montmartre...