Nude with Cup, c.1918

Born in Livorno, Amedeo Modigliani moved to Paris in 1906 after studying in Florence and Venice. His early work was influenced by Cézanne and the Symbolists, and later by African and Oceanic art. The sinuous lines of early Renaissance painters such as Simone Martini and Botticelli were also important reference points. From these sources he drew a highly distinctive repertoire of ‘primitive’ forms which he used in creating a series of elegant portraits, characterized by elongated heads and simplified features. Undoubtedly one of the most famous Italian artists of the twentieth century, Modigliani was deeply immersed in the contemporary Parisian art world. Yet he followed a singular path, rejecting Cubism’s fragmentation of form, and rebuffing Gino Severini’s invitation to join the Futurist movement.