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Reclining Nude
Amedeo Modigliani · Early Modern (Fauvism, Cubism, Expressionism)
- Artist
- Amedeo Modigliani (1884–1920)
- Date
- 1917
- Dimensions
- 60.6 x 92.7 cm
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Location
- Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, United States
This painting shows a young woman lying on a dark red couch against a deep red and black background, her body stretched across almost the entire width of the canvas. Her head rests on one arm, and she looks out at us with a calm, direct gaze.
A closer look
Modigliani painted his famous series of about thirty nudes in 1916–17, commissioned by his dealer Léopold Zborowski, who provided the models and the room. The figures are simplified and elongated, with smooth, warm flesh outlined by a firm contour, recalling Italian Renaissance nudes by Giorgione and Titian, but also African sculpture. The model's frankness and the closeness of the body, cut off by the edges of the picture, were considered shocking. In December 1917 the police closed Modigliani's only solo exhibition during his lifetime, because nudes were displayed in the gallery window.
