Leopold Zborowski 1918

Amedeo Modigliani painted this portrait of Leopold Zborowski with oils on canvas. Modigliani’s painting is all about elegant simplifications and smooth surfaces. Just look at the graceful curve of Zborowski’s neck, stretching upward like a swan's. You can see Modigliani's focus on form, his play with proportion and his flattening of space. I’m struck by the color, how the warm oranges and reds of the face pop against the cooler, muted grays and browns of the background. The eyes are these simplified almond shapes, giving him a dreamy, otherworldly look. I wonder, what was Modigliani thinking as he brushed those eyes, as he elongated that neck? I bet he was channeling his own inner rhythm, finding the poetry in the person before him. Modigliani was part of an ongoing conversation with artists like Brancusi and Picasso, all rethinking the human form. Each brushstroke is a connection, a nod to the past, and a step into the future.