Caryatid; Rose and Blue 1912 - 1914

Modigliani made this *Caryatid; Rose and Blue* with watercolor and pencil on paper. It's such a loose, gestural drawing, and you can feel the artist finding the image through layers of washes. I imagine Modigliani working quickly, intuitively, trying to capture the essence of this female form with just a few strokes. The combination of rose and blue gives the figure a dreamy, ethereal quality, as if she's emerging from another world. There are these bold, confident blue marks contrasting with the delicate, barely-there rose washes. The blue is so present and vertical, kind of holding up the pink fleshy tones. The drips and the smudges show his hand, his process, and how he’s thinking. The linear element is fascinating – it's like a search for a structure, a skeleton, a framework for the figure. And, well, like all painting, it’s an ongoing conversation, isn't it? We’re always borrowing, riffing, remixing, and paying homage to the artists who came before us.