ID 51 (Ceroni 282)
Madame Amédée (Woman with Cigarette)
1918
Alternate titles: Donna seduta, con sigaretta nella destra (Madame Amédée); Femme à la cigarette; Frau mit Zigarette; La femme à la cigarette; La femme à la cigarette (Madame Amédée); La Femme à la Cigarette - Mme. Amedée; La fumatrice; Madame Amédée; Mme Amédée (Woman with a Cigarette); Woman with Cigarette (Mme. Amedée)
Oil on canvas
39 1/2 x 25 1/2 in. (100.3 x 64.8 cm)
Front, upper left: modigliani
Reverse no longer visible
Reverse no longer visible
Creation location: Paris?
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Chester Dale Collection. (1963.10.172)
Provenance
1. See the Commentary below.
2. As "Falk, Geneva." Dale Collection records. Chester Dale Collection, Box 2, Folder 27: Collection Inventory #1, M, circa 1964. Chester Dale papers, circa 1883–2003, bulk 1920–1970. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. George Falk (1888–1962), a textile manufacturer, moved to Geneva in May 1919 and may have acquired the painting directly from Kündig, although this has not been confirmed.
3. [Advertisement for Zinglers Kabinett], Der Querschnitt (Berlin, 1924), n.p. In 1924, the painting was reproduced in an advertisement for Zinglers Kabinett of Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany, a gallery run by Peter Zingler (1892–1978) . It is unclear who owned the painting at that time.
4. Chester Dale Collection, Archives of American Art, op. cit. Geneva-based Galerie Moos, which was run by Max Moos (1880–1976), was Bignou's source.
5. Ibid.
6. Osvaldo Patani Amedeo Modigliani: Catalogo Generale (Milan: Leonardo, 1991). Jacques Dubourg (1897–1981) worked at Galerie Georges Petit prior to opening an eponymous gallery in Paris in 1927. Jonathan Maho, "Galerie Jacques Dubourg" in Bloomsbury Art Markets (London: Bloomsbury, 2025). Accessed March 15, 2026.
7. In his unpublished memoir, Chester Dale recounted the story of buying this painting from a "prominent French man" after he and Maud Dale found it on display in the well-known dressmaking shop of the man's "girl friend." While it is unclear if this is a reference to Dubourg, it is certain that Dale's source did not buy the painting directly from the artist as Dale recalled. Chester Dale Collection, Box 2, Folder 9: Memoirs 1959, "C.D. Book, Modigliani, 2, pp. 59–60. Chester Dale papers, circa 1883–2003, bulk 1920–1970. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
8. Cleveland Museum of Art and Museum of Modern Art, New York, Modigliani: Paintings, Drawings, Sculpture. Exh. cat. (January 30–March 18, 1951), unnum. In 1943, the Dales sent a number of works from their substantial art collection to three museums. While the old masters went to the National Gallery of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago received twentieth-century works, including five Modigliani paintings, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art received nineteenth and twentieth-century works, including eleven Modigliani paintings.
9. The paintings were shipped from the Art Institute of Chicago directly to the National Gallery in the summer of 1952. Tamar Kharatishvili, Art Institute of Chicago, email of April 10, 2026.
10. National Gallery of Art website.
Commentary
While the title of this portrait includes the name "Madame Amédée," the model's identity has not been confirmed. Her elegant attire and earrings, as well as her confident pose—including a cigarette prominently shown in her proper right hand—suggest that she was a woman of some standing.
In two iterations of his unpublished memoir, the art collector Chester Dale (1883–1962) identified Madame Amédée as both the owner of a "house of prostitution" and a woman who ran a soup kitchen in Nice.1 The background, however, suggests that this was painted in Paris. The ochre and chestnut-colored wall behind her, including the door with glass panel and wainscoting that matches the wood of the door, can be found in portraits that are confirmed to have been painted in Modigliani's studio at 8, rue de la Grande Chaumière after he returned from his stay in the South of France in the spring of 1919.2 This background also appears in Flower Vendor (Ceroni 331) and Girl in Green Blouse (Ceroni 114).
The painting's first owner of record is William Kündig (1893–1951), who was the Geneva-based editor of the periodical L'Eventail and the owner of a bookstore.3
- Chester Dale Collection, Box 2, Folder 9: Memoirs 1959, "C.D. Book, Modigliani, 2, p. 59; "1959 retype of the 1953 version of C.D. book," p. 61. Chester Dale papers, circa 1883–2003, bulk 1920–1970. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
- Ambrogio Ceroni, I dipinti di Modigliani (Milan: Rizzoli Editore, 1970), nos. 331, 333, 336.
- As "Collection Kunding [sic], Geneva" in the Dale Collection records. Chester Dale Collection, Box 2, Folder 27: Collection Inventory #1, M, circa 1964. Chester Dale papers, circa 1883–2003, bulk 1920–1970. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Exhibitions
De Hauke and Co, Inc, New York, Paintings by Amedeo Modigliani (1884–1920), October 21–November 9, 1929, no. 1, ill. in b/w, as Madame Amédée.
Demotte Inc, New York, Amedeo Modigliani, 1884–1920: Retrospective Exhibition of Paintings, November 7–28, 1931, no. 21, ill. in b/w, as La femme à la cigarette (Madame Amédée).
Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, Modigliani, November 4–26, 1933, no. 46, ill. in b/w, as Femme à la cigarette.
Kunsthalle Basel, Switzerland, Modigliani, January 7–February 4, 1934, no. 38, ill., as Femme à la cigarette.
Art Institute of Chicago, Twentieth Century French Paintings from the Chester Dale Collection [extended loan], April 28, 1943–May 1952, no. 40, ill. in b/w, as Madame Amédée (Woman with Cigarette).
Cleveland Museum of Art, Modigliani: Paintings, Drawings, Sculpture, January 30–March 18, 1951, unnum., ill. in b/w, p. 38, as Mme Amédée (Woman with a Cigarette). Traveled to: Museum of Modern Art, New York, April 11–June 10, 1951.
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Twentieth Century French Paintings from the Chester Dale Collection, November 1952, ill. in b/w, p. 45, as Madame Amédée (Woman with Cigarette).
Published References
McBride, Henry. "Attractions in the Galleries: Modigliani's Tragic Fate Seen as a Potent Force in Establishing His Fame." New York Sun, October 26, 1929, mentioned p. 10, as Femme à la cigarette.
Pfannstiel, Arthur. Modigliani: catalogue présumé. Paris: Éditions Marcel Seheur, 1929. Monograph, Catalogue p. 39; ill. in b/w, n.p. (before p. 113), as Femme à la cigarette.
Dale, Maud. Modigliani. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1929. Monograph, no. 34, ill. in b/w, as La Femme à la Cigarette - Mme. Amedée.
Dale, Maud. Before Manet to Modigliani from the Chester Dale Collection. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1929, no. 97, ill. in b/w, as La Femme à la Cigarette - Mme. Amedée.
Read, Helen Appleton. "The Chester Dale Collection." Vogue (New York) 75, no. 4 (February 15, 1930), ill. in b/w (in situ), p. 81.
Einstein, Carl. Die Kunst des 20. Jahrhunderts. Berlin: Propyläen-Verlag, 1931, ill. in b/w, p. 297, as Frau mit Zigarette.
"Demotte Holds Modigliani Show." The Art News (New York) 30, no. 6 (November 7, 1931), mentioned p. 7, as La femme à la cigarette.
Escholier, Raymond. La Peinture Francaise: XXème Siècle. Paris: Librairie Floury, 1937, ill. in b/w, p. 130, as Femme à la cigarette.
Jewell, Edward Alden. "To Chicago: Dale Loan Includes French Moderns." New York Times, February 28, 1943, ill. in b/w, sec. 2, p. 8, as Woman with Cigarette (Mme. Amedée).
Franchi, Raffaello. Modigliani. Florence: Centro Italiano Editoriale Librario, 1944. Monograph, no. 20, ill. in b/w, as La fumatrice.
Franchi, Raffaello. Modigliani. Florence: Arnaud, 1946. Monograph, pl. XXXVI, ill. in b/w, as La fumatrice.
Pfannstiel, Arthur. Modigliani et son œuvre. Paris: Bibliotèque des Arts, 1956. Monograph, no. 248, as La femme à la cigarette.
Ceroni, Ambrogio. I dipinti di Modigliani. Milan: Rizzoli Editore, 1970. Monograph, no. 282, p. 102, ill. in b/w, as Donna seduta, con sigaretta nella destra (Madame Amédée).
External Links
- National Gallery of Art (1963.10.172) (nga.gov)
Model
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Record last updated April 11, 2026. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Modigliani Initiative. "Madame Amédée (Woman with Cigarette), 1918 (ID 51)." In Amedeo Modigliani Digital Catalogue. catalogue.modigliani-initiative.org/catalogue/entry.php?SystemID=22 (accessed on May 11, 2026).
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