Nude on a Cushion (Nu Couche) 1917 By Amedeo Modigliani

Modigliani Nude Oil Paintings

Nude on a Cushion 1917

Painted in 1917, Nude on a Cushion is one of the most famous nude paintings by Amedeo Modigliani.

Depicting a naked woman relaxing on a blue cushion, the painting is part of a series of Modigliani reclining nude artworks.

In the painting, the woman gazes directly at the viewer. The hints at seduction (including the woman’s slightly tilted head and open gestures) shocked art audiences.

The direct commercial and sexual nature of the artwork meant it stood out even in the Bohemian atmosphere of early twentieth-century Paris.

What inspired Modigliani?

The formal grace of Modigliani's reclining nude figures references masterpieces of the Italian renaissance such as Titian’s Venus of Urbino. Despite this inspiration, their daring bravery and unabashed realism brought the genre right into the modern age.

Modigliani’s surreal elongation of faces, necks, and figures also referenced the Mannerist movement. His artworks drew on his early education at Micheli’s Art School in Venice, an institution steeped in classical Italian renaissance art.

Modigliani’s paintings of this period are bold and brave, with little suggestion of background or setting. This made the full-frontal nudity even more shocking. The artist depicts the female body with a detached sense of objectivity. While the paintings didn’t explicitly set out to provoke, they neither shied away from sexuality nor nudity.

Who commissioned Nude on a Cushion?

Created between 1916 and 1919, the Modigliani nude artworks were commissioned by the art dealer Leopold Zborowski. The art dealer paid for most of Modigliani’s models, although art historians aren’t sure of the woman's identity in Nude on a Cushion.

When the portraits were first displayed in Paris, the exhibition (held at Galerie Berthe Weill) was shut down for public obscenity. This was Modigliani’s first and last public exhibition.

It wasn’t until after Modigliani’s premature death in 1920 that the European art world came to appreciate his erotic works.

Zborowski was a Polish poet and art dealer who formed a close friendship with Modigliani. Indeed, the artist painted a particularly striking Portrait of Léopold Zborowski.

Modigliani painted three portraits of Zborowski in total, with one selling for just under $1,500,000 at Sotheby’s auction house in 2003.

Zborowski became Modigliani’s primary art dealer and confidante during his later years. He helped the artist arrange numerous exhibitions and allowed Modigliani to use his house as a studio.

While painting at Zborowski’s home, Modigliani gave his models considerable freedom to choose their poses. He also painted his wife (Jeanne Hébuterne) many times during this period, though never in the nude.

Where is Modigliani’s Nude on a Cushion?

The painting now hangs in a private collection. It realized a sale price of over $170,000,000 at a 2015 Christie’s sale. This remains a record for Modigliani's sale prices, placing the artwork among the most expensive paintings in the world. The buyer was Chinese businessperson Liu Yiqian.

As Modigliani’s primary art dealer, Zborowski amassed a considerable fortune selling and commissioning his art (especially Modigliani nude paintings). Despite this, he lost much of his wealth during the Great Depression and died destitute in Paris in the 1930s. Zborowski’s considerable Modigliani collection was consequently sold, now dispersed all over the world.

Today, Modigliani is one of the most famous Italian painters. His works (associated with Expressionism and Cubism) are highly sought after by collectors and the general public. His scandalous yet groundbreaking nude portraits reinvigorated the genre as a leading subject of modern art.

For this reason, Modigliani portraits are some of our most popular oil painting reproductions.