Almaisa 1916

Amedeo Modigliani made "Almaisa" as an oil painting, and straight away, what grabs me is the long elegant face. The colours are earthy, warm reds and browns meeting cool blues and blacks. He really knew how to mix it up. Check out the surface, it's not about hiding the process, more like a map of the decisions he made. Look closely at Almaisa’s left hand resting in her lap, the sienna paint is dabbed and swirled to describe the form, but the anatomical structure is wonky, almost like he lost interest halfway through. It's real, not perfect. Modigliani had a thing for these elongated forms, and you can see it in his sculptures too. Was he looking at El Greco? Maybe. Art's just one big conversation, and there's no right or wrong answer, just different ways of seeing.