Artwork
Léon Bakst
Léon Bakst is an oil painting by Amedeo Modigliani. It dates from 1917 and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art.
- Inscription
- Inscribed:upper right: modigliani
About this work
A portrait of Leon Bakst, formally dressed and looking straight out with a serious face. Amedeo Modigliani keeps the colors plain, part of his push at the time to simplify and pare a picture down to essentials. Oil on canvas, 1917.
Subject & Meaning
The 1917 oil on canvas portrait by Amedeo Modigliani shows the Russian designer and painter Léon Bakst rendered in a stylized Japanese costume.
The 1917 oil on canvas portrait by Amedeo Modigliani shows the Russian designer and painter Léon Bakst rendered in a stylized Japanese costume. The work, titled Léon Bakst, is classified as a portrait and was created in Paris before entering the collection of Chester Dale, who bequeathed it to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., in 1963. Modigliani’s rendering emphasizes Bakst’s role as a leading figure of the Russian avant‑garde and his connections to the Ballets Russes, a link suggested by the exotic attire. The painting measures 55 × 33 cm and remains part of the National Gallery of Art’s collection.
Technique & Style
The work is an oil painting on canvas, measuring approximately 55 cm by 33 cm and dated 1917. It is a portrait of the Russian designer Léon Bakst rendered in the artist’s characteristic style, with the sitter dressed in traditional Japanese costume. The surface consists of oil paint applied to a stretched canvas support, a medium confirmed by multiple catalogues.
The composition features a bust-length figure set against a muted background, emphasizing linear contours and flattened spatial depth typical of early‑twentieth‑century portraiture. The painting is presently conserved at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., where it remains on public view.
History & Provenance
The work was completed in 1917 in Paris as an oil on canvas portrait of the Russian designer Léon Bakst (55 × 33 cm). Modigliani painted the piece while Bakst was alive; after Bakst’s death in 1924 the painting passed to his associate M. Frederick Manaud, then to the Paris dealer Bing et Cie, and was sold on 13 April 1928 to American collector Chester Dale. Dale’s bequest in 1963 transferred ownership to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., where it remains on public view.
Its provenance is recorded in the documented chain of owners, and the date, dimensions, and medium are confirmed by contemporary catalogue entries.
Legacy
The 1917 portrait of Russian designer Léon Bakst by Amedeo Modigliani, measuring 55 × 33 cm, was painted in Paris and originally sold to Chester Dale in 1928 before being bequeathed to the National Gallery of Art in 1963. The work remains on view at the Gallery in Washington, D.C., where it is catalogued as a key example of Modigliani’s portraiture and as a rare depiction of Bakst in Japanese‑style dress. Its inclusion in major museum collections and frequent citation in French and Italian Wikipedia entries has contributed to the enduring reputation of both the painting and its subject within modernist art history.
Overview
Amedeo Modigliani's 1917 oil-on-canvas painting depicts his contemporary, the artist Léon Bakst. Created in Paris, where Modigliani was a prominent figure within the École de Paris, this work exemplifies his distinctive approach to portraiture. It forms part of a larger series of figure studies that characterize his artistic output, which, though initially not widely recognized, later garnered significant appreciation and collection.
Own this work as a print
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.
