Chaim Soutine

Chaim Soutine is a powerful oil on canvas painting created by Amedeo Modigliani in 1918. This pivotal work, executed toward the end of the artist's brief career, captures the likeness of his close friend and fellow painter, Chaim Soutine. Modigliani, an Italian artist who spent the vast majority of his career in Paris, defined the aesthetic sensibilities of the European avant-garde during the early 20th century. This period, roughly spanning 1901 to 1925, was characterized by radical shifts in portraiture, moving away from academic representation toward formal elongation and psychological depth.

Modigliani renders Soutine with characteristic formal distortion, employing an elongated neck and a flattened perspective that minimizes the background space, focusing all attention on the sitter. The use of oil on canvas allows for the distinct textures and rich colors applied by Modigliani, though the palette remains generally restrained, drawing the eye toward the intense, searching expression of the subject. This piece exemplifies Modigliani’s unique blend of influences, including African sculpture, ancient Egyptian art, and early Renaissance painting, resulting in a portrait where the identity of the sitter is used as a vehicle for the expression of inner life. The resulting image is less a literal likeness and more an exploration of Soutine's noted volatile personality and intense creative spirit.

As a significant example of Modigliani's late style, the canvas known as Chaim Soutine is a key holding in the permanent collection of the National Gallery of Art. Due to the age of the work, created in 1918, high-quality images and prints of this definitive Italian modernist masterpiece are often widely available through public domain art initiatives, allowing scholars and enthusiasts worldwide to study his output. This painting remains one of the most recognized and reproduced works from Modigliani’s mature period.