Portrait of Diego Rivera 1914

Amedeo Modigliani painted this portrait of Diego Rivera with oil on canvas sometime in the early 20th century, and what strikes me is how he's built up the image through these almost muddy browns and blacks. You can feel the process, layer upon layer, searching for the form. Look at how Modigliani captures Rivera’s gaze; his eyes are averted, almost closed, and it gives him this contemplative air, like he’s mulling something over. The paint around his face is thick, almost sculptural, and then it thins out as you move down his body, dissolving into these wispy, almost ghostly strokes. There’s something very visceral about the way Modigliani handles paint here, like he’s wrestling with the medium to bring Rivera to life. Modigliani's work here reminds me of some of Cezanne's portraits where the subject seems to emerge from a haze of brushstrokes. Both artists leave space for ambiguity, allowing for multiple readings and interpretations.