Landscape, Southern France 1919

Modigliani’s painting of the Southern French landscape is rendered in a muted palette of greens and oranges, and he’s really loaded that brush up! I wonder what it was like for him to be there? You can feel the tug of gravity in his work, pulling the paint downward, especially in the linear strokes of those tall, thin trees. The paint has this wonderful textural quality, like frosting on a cake. Imagine Modigliani wrestling with his materials, trying to capture not just the appearance of the landscape but its underlying essence. Those cypress trees look like vertical exclamation marks, punctuating the scene. I can’t help but think of Cezanne and his landscapes and wonder what he would have made of this picture. Ultimately, this landscape reminds us that painting isn’t just about representation, but about the artist's dialogue with the world and with other artists.