Woman with Red Hair

Woman with Red Hair is a seminal oil on canvas painting created by the celebrated Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani in 1917. This painting exemplifies the refined and highly individualized portrait style Modigliani developed during the pivotal years of the First World War while residing in Paris.

The work features an anonymous sitter characterized by the artist’s distinctive formal approach: extreme elongation of the neck and facial features, giving the figure a refined, sculptural quality. Modigliani often rendered his subjects with smooth, mask-like faces and almond-shaped eyes that frequently lack pupils, eliminating psychological depth in favor of formal, aesthetic consideration. The sitter’s vibrant, titular red hair contrasts dramatically with the neutral, ochre tones of the background and the minimal costume details. Modigliani’s technique involves thin application of oil paint, emphasizing fluid lines and contour over heavy impasto, creating a smooth, almost porcelain surface texture.

Although Modigliani operated within the vanguard of Parisian modernism during the period 1901 to 1925, his work retains strong echoes of his native Italian culture, particularly through his appreciation for Mannerist elongation and classical sculptural form. This unique synthesis resulted in a body of work that stands apart from contemporary movements like Cubism or Expressionism.

This important canvas is housed in the permanent collection of the National Gallery of Art. Due to the historical age and cultural significance of Modigliani's major works, high-quality prints and digital reproductions of paintings like Woman with Red Hair are increasingly made available for scholarly study and general appreciation through public domain initiatives.