Anna (Hanka) Zabrowska 1916

Here's 'Anna (Hanka) Zabrowska,' a painting done by Modigliani sometime in the early 20th century. Look at those long elegant strokes! They are a deep dive into the subconscious, a dance between observation and pure feeling. I can imagine Modigliani, cigarette in mouth, head tilted, trying to distill the essence of Anna onto the canvas. The paint isn’t too thick, it's almost like he's sketching with color. And those eyes, almond-shaped, staring, but somehow not quite seeing. It is all about simplification and exaggeration, like he's tuning into a different frequency. Modigliani's figures always feel like they are on the verge of disappearing. He was part of a whole community of artists in Paris, all pushing painting in different directions, but all in dialogue with each other. Painting's like that, a big conversation across time, with artists answering, questioning, and inspiring one another.