My Self-portrait as Modigliani’s model

This is a self-portrait I painted in Modigliani’s style. (Click the image for a bigger version) 

Why as Modigliani’s model? 

Last Thursday, at SAG (my local art club) we had to do a painting after one of the modern masters. I chose Modigliani because I like the simplicity of his palette and the decorative qualities of his stylised nudes and portraits. While browsing magazines and books with reproductions of his works, I was impressed by the fact that, in his paintings, the models’ eyes were almost always empty.

The almond shaped, empty eyes, as I have read, could show the influence of African masks and sculptures, but could also mean he was trying to emotionally disengage himself from the sitter. A mystery to me, as I like his style so much, but the lack of ‘life’ in those empty eyes rather puts me off.

This self-portrait, based on a portrait of Modigliani’s young lover Jeanne Hébuterne, was done in acrylics. It features a long neck and thin nose, oval face, small mouth, … but certainly with ‘my’ hair, eyes and look.

The Royal Academy of London

Images from the exhibition

Visit the links above for more about “Modigliani and His Models” exhibition, while I pick up my paintbox and rush to SAG!

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 13th, 2006 at 1:10 pm and is filed under General, Opinion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

6 Responses to “ My Self-portrait as Modigliani’s model ”

1. Clari Says:
   July 17th, 200611:32 pm at

   it is lovely.

2. Tish Says:
   July 18th, 20065:52 am at

   Awesome job! You’re very talented.

3. Indigo Says:
   July 25th, 20062:15 pm at

   Thank you, girls!

4. red shoes Says:
   August 11th, 20079:33 pm at

   wonderful painting!

   i was just looking through some of modigliani’s works and was thinking about the vacancy of the eyes in his portraits. which brought me to your entry.

   *cheers*

5. Gerhardus Says:
   October 16th, 200710:27 pm at

   Hi, nice pics in general. Great to see that mature guys can get lovely ladies. Watercolours can be such a rewarding medium. Lovely work. Wish I had more time for my own work. I’m a professional illustrator and web designer from South Africa. My brother and I are considering Argentina for immegration. However we are both worried about how we will socially fit and make friends. Neither of us know any Spanish. I’ve just bought a course off the internet. If you have any info I would greatly appreciate it. gerhard_prinsloo@yahoo.co.uk

6. Indigo Says:
   October 31st, 200712:33 pm at

   Thank you for the nice comments, Gerhardus.

   If you want to immigrate to Argentina, you are right. The first thing to do is to learn Spanish.
   Many Argentinians study English to quite an acceptable level, but most of them are very reluctant to talk with a native speaker (shyness, perhaps?)

   To get first hand, valuable information about the country, why don’t you contact us at the Argentinians in England community site? We share our views and experiences with immigration and exchange information and help.
   The site is in Spanish, but all of us can speak and write English, so you could write any questions you have in the forum. I am sure there you will find people that can help you with your Spanish!!

   Also, do you have any images of your work that I can see online?

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