Portrait of a Woman 1915

This ‘Portrait of a Woman’ was painted by Amedeo Modigliani at an unknown date, on a canvas using oil paints. Look at the way he's laid down those marks. It’s like he's feeling his way through the image, trusting the process to lead him. The materiality of this work is striking. The canvas is raw, almost like he's working directly on the surface with very thinned paint, staining the surface rather than building it up. There's a rawness to it. Notice the dark, almost black strokes defining the figure, contrasting with the pale, creamy ground. See how the strokes aren't just lines, they are patches of color, and each one feels like a decision, a moment of seeing and responding. It reminds me of some of Joan Mitchell's more gestural work, that same sense of emotional intensity being channeled through the act of painting. Like Mitchell, Modigliani invites us into a space where seeing and feeling are intertwined, where ambiguity is not a weakness but a strength.