Woman with Red Hair
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
overall: 92.1 x 60.7 cm (36 1/4 x 23 7/8 in.) framed: 114.9 x 82.5 x 7.6 cm (45 1/4 x 32 1/2 x 3 in.)
Classification
Painting
Department
CMC
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Chester Dale Collection
Accession Number
1963.10.176
Art Historical Context
Amedeo Modigliani’s *Woman with Red Hair* (1917) captures the artist’s distinctive approach to portraiture during his most productive years in Paris. Working amid the cultural ferment of early 20th-century modernism, Modigliani blended influences from African sculpture, Italian Renaissance painting, and contemporary movements like Cubism into a highly personal style. His figures are instantly recognizable for their graceful elongation, almond-shaped eyes, and simplified forms that convey both elegance and emotional depth. Painted in oil on canvas, the work exemplifies Modigliani’s skillful ha...
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...