Head of a Young Girl 1916

Amedeo Modigliani’s ‘Head of a Young Girl’ is a painting which explores the tension between representation and the artists individual style. The surface has this beautifully soft, almost velvety quality, achieved through thin layers of muted colour. The colour palette is earthy and restrained, with a focus on warm reds, browns, and creams. Look closely at the lines of her nose – they're not really lines at all, just subtle shifts in tone. Modigliani builds form through colour. There's a grace in the elongation of her neck and face, a kind of stylisation that's both modern and classical. Modigliani's work always makes me think of his contemporary, Constantin Brancusi. Both artists were simplifying forms, trying to capture something essential about the human figure. And yet, they're so different. Modigliani's paintings are always imbued with such a sense of melancholy and, well, humanity.