Lunia Czechowska

(1919)

The elongated neck catches the eye in this portrait of Lunia Czechowska, a family friend of the Zborowskis. In Paris Modigliani becomes friends with the poet Zborowski who later establishes himself as an art dealer. He sees to it that Modigliani is more or less able to provide for himself and to support Jeanne, his wife and the young mother of his child, who has a troubled relationship with Amedeo because of his illness and alcoholism.

Modigliani is very fond of the friendly and sensitive Lunia Czechowska and he regularly paints her. This portrait has all the characteristics of his work, it has a sculpture-like compactness and it is vertically geometric and meditatively modest. The person portrayed is reduced to her essential being, stripped of all unnecessary decoration.