# Girl in a Green Blouse **Amedeo Modigliani** (Italian, 1884–1920) 1917 oil on canvas overall: 81.3 x 46 cm (32 x 18 1/8 in.) framed: 95.9 x 60 cm (37 3/4 x 23 5/8 in.) Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1963.10.45. [The museum's record](https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.46520.html). ## About this work A young woman with golden-orange hair piled high sits facing us, her pale, almost white-irised eyes giving her a calm, unreadable look. Modigliani builds the figure from his familiar elements: an elongated oval face, a long neck, sloping shoulders and dark contour lines enclosing areas of mottled colour. The mint-green blouse stands out against warm honey and amber browns, and a russet door with a row of small windows fills the right half of the background. Painted in 1917, at the height of his short career in Paris, the portrait shows how he reduced a sitter to a few rhythmic curves while keeping a sense of individual presence. _Written by Ochre Editions._ Amedeo Modigliani painted this in 1917, aged 33. It is now at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. ### What you’re looking at Shown from the lap up, a pale-skinned woman with an oval face and long neck sits facing us in this vertical painting. The portrait is created with areas of mottled colors outlined with black lines. Her body faces us, and she looks out with pale blue eyes, the irises almost white. Her thin eyebrows slope down the sides and her small, dark peach lips are closed. Golden-orange hair is piled atop her head and a few bangs fall onto her high forehead. Black oval earrings hang from her lobes. Her shoulders also slope unnaturally down. Her mint-green shirt has a scooped neckline and elbow-length sleeves, and it appears to be tucked into a brown skirt or pants. The background is honey orange in the top left quadrant, amber brown in the lower left, and a russet brown door with windows across the top fills the right half. The artist signed the top right corner, “modigliani.” _Description from the National Gallery of Art._ ### How it was made - **Oil paint.** Pigment ground in a drying oil, usually linseed. It dries slowly, so painters could blend on the canvas, build up thin translucent glazes, and rework a picture over weeks. Canvas replaced wooden panels in the 1500s because it is lighter and can be rolled. ### [Amedeo Modigliani](https://www.ochreeditions.com/artists/amedeo-modigliani) Italian, 1884–1920 Modigliani trained in Italy before moving to Paris in 1906, where he lived the precarious life of Montmartre and Montparnasse. Influenced by Cézanne, by African and ancient sculpture, and by his own work as a sculptor with Brâncuși’s encouragement, he developed a distinctive manner of elongated faces, almond eyes and long necks. His portraits of friends and fellow artists, among them Jacques and Berthe Lipchitz, and his reclining nudes date mainly from his last five years. He died of tuberculous meningitis at thirty-five. _Written by Ochre Editions._ ## Facts - Type: Painting - The artist was 33 - Real size: about 32 × 18 in (81 × 46 cm). The 20 × 30 in print is close to life size. - Century: 20th century - Subjects: female - Colour: olive - Rights: public domain (CC0 1.0); free to use for any purpose. ## Get it - Free download, full resolution: https://img.ochreeditions.com/m/1515.jpg?dl=1 - Image: https://img.ochreeditions.com/a/1515/1920.jpg - Giclée reproduction on Hahnemühle Photo Rag: 8 × 10 in $28; 11 × 14 in $38; 12 × 16 in $42; 16 × 20 in $56; 18 × 24 in $68; 20 × 30 in $86 - Framed reproduction: 8 × 10 in $78; 11 × 14 in $98; 12 × 16 in $108; 16 × 20 in $138; 18 × 24 in $164; 20 × 30 in $208 - Canvas reproduction: 8 × 10 in $58; 11 × 14 in $72; 12 × 16 in $79; 16 × 20 in $98; 18 × 24 in $118 - Print-ready file: 8 × 10 in $2; 11 × 14 in $2; 12 × 16 in $3; 16 × 20 in $3; 18 × 24 in $3; 20 × 30 in $5 Sizes stop where the museum's file would print below 150 pixels per inch. Everything sold is a reproduction, made to order. [Order a print](https://www.ochreeditions.com/art/girl-in-a-green-blouse-nga-46520).