Amedeo Modigliani
This is an early masterpiece that counts among Modigliani’s most famous images. We see an elegant horsewoman; her arched brow, pursed lips, and smoldering gaze create a powerful erotic charge.
The subject of this painting is Baroness Marguerite de Hasse de Villers, a glamorous socialite and the lover of Paul Alexandre’s (who was a friend of many avant-garde artists) younger brother Jean, who commissioned this portrait of his girlfriend in 1909. Marguerite poses in her riding habit, with her gloved hand on hip and her sly glance at the artist transgressing the boundary of her rarefied status.
Modigliani was frustrated while producing the painting. He repeatedly threatened to destroy what he had already completed. “The portrait seems to be coming along well, but I’m afraid it will probably change ten times again before it’s finished,” Jean reported to his brother Paul. One of the major problems was Marguerite’s jacket, which Modigliani continuously reworked and recolored from red to yellow-ochre. The resulting image was so astonishingly avant-garde that Marguerite apparently did not recognize herself. But Paul Alexandre, whose portrait was also painted by Modigliani during this time, instantly saw the genius in this picture and acquired it for his own collection.
Here you will find an appealing selection of Modigliani's beautiful nudes. <3