“Woman with a Fan (Lunia Chekhovskaya)”, Amedeo Modigliani – description of the painting

Description of the picture:

Lady with a Fan (Lunia Chekhovskaya) – Amedeo Modigliani. 1919. Oil on canvas. 100 x 65 cm
Ladies Amedeo Modigliani – a separate page of art history research on the life and work of an eccentric and excellent Italian. And this page is full of dark and blurry spots. The best ladies ‘portraits of Modigliani depict ladies close to the creator – his ladies’ hearts, lovers, girlfriends, wives of friends. The refined lady from the presented work is Lunia Chekhovskaya, a close friend of the informal family of Modigliani-Hebuterne.

Lunia appears before us as a mature lady, in the form of which calm and prosaic wisdom is read. She is dressed in an orange sundress, revealing her long, graceful neck. The fan in the hands of the model gives the lady elegance and aristocracy. The highest laconic hairstyle, combined with slightly drooping eyelids and an elongated face shape, present us with the heroine as a self-sufficient lady, prone to a sober assessment of reality. It is impossible not to admire her article and sophistication.

The eyes of Lunia, the master decided to leave unpainted – a little bluish squirrel without pupils tilt the portrait in the direction of mystery. Modigliani boldly denied the conventional wisdom that the eyes are a mirror of the soul. The painter did not have to write out his eyes to show the essence of the person being portrayed.

The painter placed Lunia against a red wall. In the room you can see a dark chest of drawers and a fragment of the picture. Modigliani painted the figure of the model (especially the head and neck) with a deep, wide dark line, which makes the image appear to come to the fore. Very interesting visual effect. Modigliani’s other favorite habit was playing with space. If you look closely at the chest of drawers and the picture, you will find that they are depicted at different levels and are not subject to any laws of projection. All this enhances the feeling of phantasmagoricity.

For the embodiment of his girlfriend, the master chose bright “hot” colors – the picture seemed to glow, there is so much red and orange. The author depicted the body of the model in the usual warm beige tone.

Lunia Chekhovskaya was pretty close to Modigliani and his muse Jeanne. So close that Jeanne Hébuterne gave Lunia their daughter (daughter of Modigliani and Jeanne) to look after the baby. At this time, Modigliani worsened consumption, and Jeanne was torn between a sick husband and a newborn girl, in the end, choosing a loved one. She always made any choice in his favor."

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