Artwork
Juan Gris (1887–1927)
Juan Gris (1887–1927) is an oil painting by Amedeo Modigliani. It dates from 1915 and is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
The work depicts Juan Gris, a Spanish artist recognized as a pioneer of Cubism, presented as the sole main subject in a bust-length portrait.
The work depicts Juan Gris, a Spanish artist recognized as a pioneer of Cubism, presented as the sole main subject in a bust-length portrait. Painted in 1915 by Amedeo Modigliani, the image captures Gris as a man and fellow artist, emphasizing his professional identity within the early twentieth-century avant-garde. The iconography is straightforward, focusing entirely on the sitter without additional allegorical figures or complex symbolic objects.
The painting serves as a visual document of the relationship between the two modernists, representing Gris's status as a significant figure in the art world of the 1910s.
Technique & Style
Amedeo Modigliani executed this 1915 portrait using oil paint on canvas. The artwork is a bust-length portrait depicting the Spanish artist and Cubism pioneer Juan Gris. The composition is modestly scaled, with the canvas measuring 54.9 cm in height and 38.1 cm in width.
The painting's formal and stylistic qualities center on its function as a portrait, capturing the sitter in a traditional bust format through the material handling of paint that Modigliani favored for his fellow-artist likenesses.
History & Provenance
Amedeo Modigliani executed this oil-on-canvas portrait of the Spanish Cubist Juan Gris in 1915. The work's ownership history includes possession by Georges Dorival, Paul-Jean-Emile Viard, and Perls Galleries before entering the collection of Adelaide Milton de Groot. In 1967, de Groot bequeathed the painting to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, where it remains part of the permanent collection. The portrait was subsequently featured in the exhibition titled "Modigliani. Modern Gazes."
Overview
Amedeo Modigliani's 1915 oil portrait captures his contemporary, the artist Juan Gris. This painting exemplifies Modigliani's distinctive modernist style, characterized by a departure from strict realism. The work is now part of the collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, representing a key moment in early 20th-century portraiture.
Context
This portrait emerged from Amedeo Modigliani's formative years in Paris, a period during which he cultivated his unique modernist aesthetic. Living and working among influential figures such as Pablo Picasso and Constantin Brâncuși, Modigliani absorbed and transformed the avant-garde ideas circulating in the city. His distinctive approach to portraiture, evident in the depiction of Juan Gris, reflects this rich artistic environment and his personal synthesis of its innovations.
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Artist & collection
Artist
Amedeo Clemente Modigliani (US: ; Italian: ; 12 July 1884 – 24 January 1920) was an Italian painter and sculptor of the École de Paris who worked mainly in France.
