Shop art print and framed art Portrait of Jeanne Hebuterne by Amedeo Modigliani

Portrait of Jeanne Hébuterne: a bittersweet work by Amedeo Modigliani

The portrait of Jeanne Hébuterne, by Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani, is a work that has marked the history of modern art. This painting depicts the artist's companion and muse, who shared his life during the last years of his life.

Jeanne Hébuterne was a young French painter, born in 1898 and tragically died in 1920 aged just 21. She met Modigliani in 1917, while studying at the Beaux-Arts in Paris. She quickly became the companion and muse of the Italian painter, who immortalised her face on several canvases.

The portrait of Jeanne Hébuterne was painted in 1919, a year before Modigliani's untimely death from tuberculosis at the age of 35. This event would have a profound effect on Jeanne Hébuterne, who committed suicide two days later, pregnant with their second child.

Stylistic characteristics of the portrait of Jeanne Hébuterne

A modernist representation

At first glance, the portrait of Jeanne Hébuterne evokes the modernist style characteristic of Modigliani. The young woman is depicted from the front, an angle that highlights her long red hair. The background of the painting, composed of soft, pastel shades, contrasts with the stronger colour of Jeanne Hébuterne's hair.

The portrait is also characterised by the elongation of the muse's neck and face, a stylistic feature that Modigliani frequently used in his works. This choice lends the painting a certain elegance and is akin to the Mannerist aesthetic canons of the late Renaissance, and which also infuses modern art of the early 20th century.

Influence of African and Asian art

The treatment of Jeanne Hébuterne's facial features also testifies to the influence of African and Asian arts on Modigliani's work. The almond-shaped, very slightly asymmetrical eyes and thin, arched eyebrows recall the aesthetics of African masks and Japanese prints. This reference to non-European arts is characteristic of the modernist movement and French artists' openness to the aesthetic canons of Asia and Africa.

Iconographic analysis of the portrait of Jeanne Hébuterne

The portrait of Jeanne Hébuterne offers us an intimate insight into Modigliani's view of his muse and companion. The expression on the young woman's face conveys a certain melancholy, perhaps linked to the difficulties the couple encountered during their life together. Indeed, Modigliani and Jeanne Hébuterne experienced periods of great precariousness and incomprehension in the Parisian artistic milieu.

The choice of colour for Jeanne Hébuterne's clothes is also significant: she is wearing a dark blue dress, which contrasts with the light background of the canvas.

This artwork is a painting from the modern period. It belongs to the post-impressionism style.

« Portrait of Jeanne Hebuterne » is kept at Private collection.