Nude on a Blue Cushion
Medium
oil on linen
Dimensions
overall: 65.4 x 100.9 cm (25 3/4 x 39 3/4 in.) framed: 84.7 x 120 cm (33 3/8 x 47 1/4 in.)
Classification
Painting
Department
CMC
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Chester Dale Collection
Accession Number
1963.10.46
Art Historical Context
Amedeo Modigliani’s *Nude on a Blue Cushion* (1917) captures the artist’s signature approach to the reclining female figure. Working in Paris during the First World War, Modigliani distilled the human body into graceful, elongated lines and simplified forms, influenced by African sculpture, Italian Renaissance painting, and the modern art circles around him. The result is a serene yet sensual image that emphasizes smooth contours and a quiet, direct gaze. Painted in oil on linen, the work benefits from the fine, even weave of the support, which lends a subtle texture to the skin tones and the...
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...