Modigliani
returned to painting in 1915, specializing in portraits of his
lovers and friends. These are delicate in execution, the forms
and color simple, and typically the sitter is sad or non-expressive.
A series of large nudes are particularly erotic. Typically the
figure is outlined describing an elongated torso sensuously modeled
with imperceptible gradations of flesh tones.
They were so highly charged that the 1917 exhibition in Paris
was closed because the paintings were considered obscene. The
fourteen years he spent in Paris were productive, but Modigliani
died at the age of 36 from tuberculosis and the ravages of an
excessive lifestyle.
