The Introduction of the Works by Amedeo Modigliani: 19. The Beggar Woman (1909)

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Modigliani Institute Korea (MIK) is currently introducing artworks of Amedeo Modigliani one by one every week.

The 19th work to introduce for this week is “The Beggar Woman (1909)”.

This work is, a portrait of an expressionist style and an oil painting on canvas, with the size of 46x38 cm, in private collection.

The “Beggar Woman” was painted by Modigliani in his hometown of Livorno in the summer of 1909.

This work, the companion of the work, “The Beggar of Livorno,” was one of the paintings that Modigliani returned to his hometown for a while and painted, after moving to Paris in 1906.

This work can be considered as one of the best portraits of Modigliani during this period, which fully satisfied both the expression of the model he pursued and the utilization of the exhibition as economic means for earning money.

The unfocused eyes of the model looking down, the drooping head, and the closed mouth although she seems to say anything, seem to represent this woman's misery and suffering for life.

Modigliani often painted the miserable and poor.

They were surely the ones that Modigliani favored, but one of the reasons was that he was not able to pay for professional models.

It is also a good example of Modigliani's style of selecting background colors so that the viewers don’t pay much attention to the background to increase their focus on the model.

This work, one of the masterpieces of Modigliani, was painted and dedicated to his friend Jean Alexandre to make him happy, who was waiting for his portrait to be completed.

This work was hung in the studio at Delta Street, which was established by Paul Alexandre for artists, and exhibited at the Salon des Indépendants in 1910.

By the 2000s, this work had been displayed at several exhibitions such as the Musee du Luxembourg in Paris, France in 2002, the Palazzo Reale in Milano, Italy in 2003, and the Jewish Museum in New York, USA in 2018.

In this work, the words “a Jean Alexandre” with the signature “Modigliani” appear in the upper left side.

Thank you.

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