Woman With a Necklace 1917

Amedeo Modigliani painted Woman with a Necklace in oil, and what strikes me most is the limited palette and reductive forms, which all come together in this painting through the sheer process of painting. The woman’s black dress is made up of so many different kinds of brushstrokes, like the artist was thinking, "How many ways can I describe black?" Some are quick, some are dragged, and some are almost dry. I see little touches of green and brown poking through the black, which warms it up and gives it some air. I love the almost caricatured face, and how it focuses the gaze on the woman’s hands. Look at how they are gently clasped, and the surprising colour combination of fleshy pink and bright yellow. The flattening and distortion of space in Modigliani’s paintings remind me of the work of another great painter, Marie Laurencin, and that in art, just like in life, it's what you leave out that matters most.