Recumbent nude 1917

This oil painting of a reclining nude was made by Amedeo Modigliani, though we don’t know exactly when. The way he’s mixed ochre and sienna to create the flesh tones reminds me of what it’s like to mix colors on the palette, trying to make a color that feels alive, even if it's not realistic. I think Modigliani wanted to make a body that was both present and remote. Look at the texture of the paint, how he layers strokes of red and brown on the bed to almost conceal it. The palette and soft brushwork make it feel dreamlike and sensual. But then, the figure's face is turned away, almost anonymous, and the dark color around the body flattens the space. Modigliani’s contemporary, Chaïm Soutine, also played with the figure and ground relationships in his paintings. Like Soutine’s work, this painting makes you think about the conversation between abstraction and figuration and how to paint an experience, not just a likeness.