Modigliani worked on the fringes of the avant garde movements in the Parisian bohemia of the early 1910s, never enlisting in any particular group but remaining receptive to the innovative stimuli surrounding him. He maintained an affinity for the artistic traditions of his native Italy, as well as the art of ancient Egypt and primitive civilizations, whose influence can be seen in his few surviving stone-cut sculptures. The stylized, distorted figures of his paintings and drawings, with their elongated faces, vacant eyes, and passive demeanor were achieved by an emphasis on line, contour, a muted palette, and the painter’s own emotional bond with his models...

Italian painter and sculptor Amedeo Modigliani (1884-1920) has endured as one of the most esteemed artists of the twentieth century and his work has never been more popular than it is today. The lush, sensuous nudes and intense, mannered portraits that are his trademark have become favorites of collectors and museumgoers alike, the timeless products of a man who was as passionate about his life as he was about his art.

Modigliani worked on the fringes of the avant garde movements in the Parisian bohemia of the early 1910s, never enlisting in any particular group but remaining receptive to the innovative stimuli surrounding him. He maintained an affinity for the artistic traditions of his native Italy, as well as the art of ancient Egypt and primitive civilizations, whose influence can be seen in his few surviving stone-cut sculptures. The stylized, distorted figures of his paintings and drawings, with their elongated faces, vacant eyes, and passive demeanor were achieved by an emphasis on line, contour, a muted palette, and the painter’s own emotional bond with his models.

Though Modigliani’s work was largely ignored during his short lifetime, the myth surrounding him as a Romantic artist, one hampered by illness but given to personal excess, has only served to bolster the popularity of his work today.