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Modigliani Institute Korea (MIK) is currently introducing artworks of Amedeo Modigliani one by one every week.
The 6th work to introduce this week is “Portrait of Maude Abrantes (1908)”.
It is an oil painting on canvas having a size of 80.6 cm x 50.1 cm.
It is currently owned by the Hecht Museum at University of Haifa in Israel.
It was in November (or December) 1907 when Modigliani met Abrantes.
She was a friend of Modigliani and his patron, Paul Alexandre, who described her as "the most elegant woman”.
Abrantes was also a woman, who painted and enjoyed parties with artists.
However, a year later, in 1908, she said goodbye to her friends and left for New York with pregnancy.
The arguments about the father of her pregnant child are divided, and some claim that Modigliani is the father of the child.
In this picture, Abrantes is painted in a very unique way.
The combination of blue and orange colors used for her face creates an elegant but more or less unstable atmosphere.
Her face looks so pale as if she is bloodless, her eyes are almost closed as if she keeps her own secret sorrow, and the exaggerated expression of her lips makes her look like a wicked woman.
The blue shadows around her eyes add to her emotional anxiety and pain.
Modigliani, who was famous for expressing the personality or characteristics of the model in the painting, seems to have also expressed her personality or characteristics in this picture.
Since Modigliani also painted this work before establishing his own painting styles, he might have experimented with various painting styles in this painting, resulting in an expressive and dramatic image of the model.
And one of the reasons this picture became an issue is the fact that there is another painting on the other side of the canvas of this work.
I will explain it in detail in the next Modigliani news.
Thank you.
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