Girl in a Green Blouse

Girl in a Green Blouse is an iconic oil on canvas painting created by Amedeo Modigliani in 1917. This work exemplifies the artist's mature output during the period 1901 to 1925, a critical era for the development of modern European art. Modigliani, an Italian expatriate working primarily in Paris, synthesized disparate cultural influences-ranging from African sculpture to 15th-century Sienese painting-into a unique and instantly recognizable figurative style.

The portrait depicts an unknown female sitter, rendered with Modigliani’s signature formal language. The figure is distinguished by extreme elongation of the neck and head, features that defy naturalism to achieve emotional and aesthetic intensity. The contours are sharply delineated, emphasizing the subject's serene, almond-shaped eyes and simplified, mask-like facial features, which evoke a profound sense of introspection. The overall composition is structured and simplified, typical of Modigliani’s later canvases.

The artist’s palette is restrained, allowing attention to focus primarily on the sitter’s disposition and the interplay between warm, pinkish skin tones and the cool, flat planes of the eponymous garment. Modigliani employed thin washes of oil paint, often allowing the texture of the canvas weave to show through, resulting in a dry, matte surface quality that differs significantly from the impasto techniques of his Post-Impressionist predecessors.

Though fundamentally rooted in the Parisian avant-garde, the clear, sculptural simplicity of the work reflects the artist's deep appreciation for his Italian heritage. This piece showcases Modigliani's ability to imbue formal simplification with psychological depth, solidifying his reputation as a master of the modern portrait. Girl in a Green Blouse currently resides in the permanent collection of the National Gallery of Art. Given the artwork's historical and artistic significance, high-resolution images of the painting are frequently accessible through public domain archives, allowing students and enthusiasts to study prints derived from this foundational work of early 20th-century figurative painting.