by Tom Gurney
Tom Gurney BSc (Hons) is an art history expert with over 20 years experience
Published on June 19, 2020 / Updated on December 30, 2025
Email: tomgurney1@gmail.com / Phone: +44 7429 011000
Nude Sitting on a Divan (Beautiful Roman Woman) 1917-1918 by Amedeo Modigliani is an important contribution to his famous series of nude paintings.
Amedeo Modigliani's portrait remains one of the most celebrated examples of his mature approach to the human figure. Nude Sitting on a Divan (circa 1917-18) combines elongated form, sculptural presence and psychological reserve - perfectly capturing the artist's style later on in his career. Its serene composition and refined balance of line and volume distinguish it within the broader context of early 20th-century painting and his portraiture would become instantly recognisable as his own.
Modigliani had one solo exhibition in his lifetime, at the Berthe Weill Gallery in Paris, 1917. However, the exhibition caused an outcry. Crowds gathered in front of the gallery windows and, amidst accusations of indecency, the police demanded the exhibition was closed. It was allowed to reopen, but only after removing the offending paintings from public view.
Nude Sitting on a Divan, or La Belle Romain, The Beautiful Roman Woman, was one of the paintings exhibited. It shows the influence of both the Italian Renaissance and the modern art movements of the time. The painting, oil on canvas, portrays a nude woman against a deep red background, a scrap of fabric partially draped across her body. The figure is bold and unashamed, gazing sensually, but not provocatively, from the frame.
- Artist:Amedeo Modigliani
- Title:Nude Sitting on a Divan
- Alternative Title:Beautiful Roman Woman
- French Titles:Nu assis sur un divan, La Belle Romaine
- Date:circa 1917-1918
- Medium:Oil on canvas
- Size:39 3/8 by 25 5/8 in, 100 cm by 65 cm
- Movement:Modernism
- Subject:Female nude figure
Description and Analysis
Modigliani's Nude Sitting on a Divan (Beautiful Roman Woman) presents a figure looking directly at us, whilst her body is positioned diagonally to our left. A white cloth covers her midrift, but she is entirely naked aside from that. The artist uses a small palette for this work, ensuring that the figure and the background contrast strongly, using tones of dark reddish browns behind her lighter skin tones.
Her neck and facial structure is somewhat elongated, in line with the style used by Modigliani at this point in his career. His earlier interest in sculpture is indicated in how he produces form, even in his paintings. The divan is not immediately obvious, but helps in providing a horizontal balance to work against the vertical structure of the model. Her legs are crossed to avoid a more erotic balance to this painting, which was not intended by Amedeo.
Face Portrait Detail
Meaning and Interpretation
Modigliani's nude paintings had a different meaning to many in this genre - we would reflect upon them, with no eroticism involved. Despite shocking many at the time of his career, Amedeo was misunderstood, as to the purpose of his work. There is a harmonius balance, similar to sculptural form, and the model is not presented as something to objectify. This painting style evolved after Modigliani's interest in sculpture several years earlier, but he was forced to abandon that medium as his energy levels started to drop.
Modigliani manages to strike a balance in paintings such as Nude Sitting on a Divan between modern art and traditional ideas, as well as between restraint and forcefulness. It would take many years before his work would be appreciated by the public, and consequently he made little money during his own lifetime.
Technique and Influences
The key influences that drove the work of Modigliani are entirely visible in his Nude Sitting on a Divan from circa 1917-1918. The structure of the model's body is entirely in line with his earlier stone heads and caryatid studies, plus final sculptures. The figure is built up from planes and contours, just as one might design a sculpture in its early development. One can see the lines as he imagined for the outline of this figure, as they dominated his thinking.
All of African art, Cycladic sculpture, and Renaissance draftsmanship would have influenced his work, and he managed to fuse therse together to produce a unique approach, all his own. Today, one can both identify his work instantly, but also find plenty of his followers who appreciate this unique artist, who married calm portraits with a turbulent social life.
Provenance and Exhibition History
Nude Sitting on a Divan (Beautiful Roman Woman) 1917-1918 by Amedeo Modigliani holds a strong presence within the artist's oeuvre. It can be traced back to Léopold Zborowski in Paris, who was the artist's main dealer, and has changed hands through several private collections since then. It is firmly established in terms of authenticity, and has been featured in countless books and catalogue raisonnes on this artist over the past hundred years or so.
In addition to its inclusion in several private collections, the piece has also been exhibited across Europe, with its first appearance outside Paris being in Zurich in 1927. Since then, it has also appeared in exhibitions in Rome, Tokyo, Düsseldorf and London.
Most notably, in 2010, 90 years after Modigliani died in poverty, Nude Sitting on a Divan sold for $68.9 million at a Sotheby's auction in New York, US. The event was the Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale on the 2nd of November, 2010 and the purchaser is believed to be based in Hong Kong or mainland China. The painting is signed and was acknowledged within his career from a very early stage.
Artist Background and Demise
The Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani, 1884-1920, had an exciting birth. Bailiffs arrived at the Modigliani's door just as his mother Eugenia, went into labour.
The family, recently flung into financial crisis, rushed to pile their most valuable belongings around her on the bed. They wanted to take advantage of a law decreeing that creditors couldn't touch the bed of a pregnant woman. Modigliani's life proved to be no less dramatic than his birth.
In many ways, Modigliani followed the stereotype of an impoverished, tortured artist. He claimed to want to live “a short intense life”. In this, he succeeded.
At 16, Modigliani contracted tuberculosis. When he moved to Paris a few years later he set about recreating himself, destroying much of his early work, describing it as “childish baubles”.
He started drinking heavily and taking drugs, probably in an attempt to self-medicate and to try and hide his tuberculosis, a then untreatable condition whose sufferers were shunned. His drug and alcohol use gradually became an addiction.
In 1920, neighbours found the 35 years old Modigliani feverish, clinging to his heavily pregnant partner, Jeanne Hébuterne. He was in the grips of tubercular meningitis and later died in hospital, destitute. The day after his funeral, distraught from his death, Hébuterne jumped from a high window, killing both herself and their unborn baby. Left behind was their young daughter, Jeanne.
Large Image of the Painting
Nude Sitting on a Divan (Beautiful Roman Woman), 1917-1918, Amedeo Modigliani
