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Artwork

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Year:
Theme: Portrait
AMDC 41 (Ceroni 103)
Madame Kisling
c.1917
Alternate titles: Mme. Kisling; Portrait de Madame Kisling; Portrait de Mme Kisling; Portrait de Renée Kisling; Portrait of a Woman; Portrait of Madame Kisling; Portrait of Mme. Kisling; René-Jean; Renée Kisling
Oil on canvas
18 3/16 x 13 1/16 in. (46.2 x 33.2 cm)
Front, lower right: modigliani
Reverse not inscribed
Creation location: Paris
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Chester Dale Collection. (1963.10.175)
Provenance
Likely Émile Lejeune, Paris1…
Private collection2
Etienne Bignou, Paris3
[Leicester Galleries, London (by 1927)]4
Chester Dale, New York (April 20, 1927)5
[Chester Dale Collection, Philadelphia Museum of Art, on loan (1943)]6
Chester Dale, New York (October 9, 1951)7
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., by bequest (1963)8
1. Émile, Lejeune, "1ere exposition (du 19 Novembre au 5 Décembre 1916): Kisling, Matisse, Modigliani, Ortiz de Zarate, Picasso," La Tribune de Genève (February 9, 1964): 1.
2. 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. In his records, Chester Dale (1883–1962) identified the art dealer Etienne Bignou (1891–1950) as the seller through Leicester Galleries of London. The private collection from which Bignou acquired the work has not been identified.
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid.
5. Ibid.
6. 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.
7. The return date was confirmed by Jane Joe, Philadelphia Museum of Art, email of February 20, 2026.
8. National Gallery of Art website.
Commentary

Though historically known as Madame Kisling, the painting was likely titled René-Jean when it was shown in the 1916 exhibition at Lyre et Palette. Born Renée Marie Anne Gros (1894–1960), the model of this painting insisted on calling herself René-Jean and was known as such in Montparnasse's cultural circle.1 She was an avant-garde style icon, dressing in men's clothing and sporting a short, masculine-looking bob, years before this type of hairstyle became popularly known as "La Garçonne," following Victor Margueritte's 1922 novel of the same title.2

Gros met Modigliani's friend and fellow painter Moïse Kisling (1891–1953) in 1916 and became Madame Kisling when she married him on August 12, 1917. Together, they formed a striking couple, often dressing in matching cowboy shirts and attracting attention with their matching hairstyles.3 Modigliani painted a second portrait of Renée (Ceroni 163) and three portraits of Moïse (Ceroni 98, 107, and 154).

The presumed inclusion of Madame Kisling in the exhibition at Lyre et Palette, suggests a 1916 dating of the work.

Canvas information
Technical analysis of the painting revealed that beneath Madame Kisling is a landscape; the painter of this has not been identified.4

For more on the 1916 exhibition and Renée Gros Kisling, see the essay published in Spotlight: “Première Exposition,” Lyre et Palette.

  1. Émile Lejeune, “Montparnasse à l’Epoque Héroique: Un peintre genevois réunit dans son atelier les chefs de file de la nouvelle peinture,” Tribune de Genève (February 8, 1964), 1. https://www.e-newspaperarchives.ch/?a=d&d=TDG19640208-01.2.2
  2. Victor Margueritte, La Garçonne (Paris: Ernest Flammarion, 1922).
  3. Crespelle (1962), op. cit.
  4. Alice Craigie, National Gallery of Art, email of December 6, 2023.
Exhibitions
1916 Paris probably
Lyre et Palette, Paris, 1re exposition: Kisling, Matisse, Modigliani, Ortiz de Zarate, Picasso, et Sculptures négres, November 19–December 5, 1916, no. 20, as René-Jean.
1928a New York
Wildenstein Galleries, New York, Loan Exhibition of Modern French Art from the Chester Dale Collection: For the Benefit of the French Hospital of New York, October 1928, no. 29, as Portrait de Madame Kisling.
1929 Cleveland
Cleveland Museum of Art, French Art Since Eighteen Hundred, November 7–December 9, 1929, as Portrait of Mme. Kisling.
1931c New York
Demotte Inc, New York, Amedeo Modigliani, 1884–1920: Retrospective Exhibition of Paintings, November 7–28, 1931, no. 10, as Portrait de Madame Kisling.
1943–51 Philadelphia
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Paintings from the Chester Dale Collection, October 10, 1943–October 1951, unnum., ill. in b/w, as Portrait of Mme. Kisling, dated 1917.
1952 Washington, D.C.
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Twentieth Century French Paintings from the Chester Dale Collection, November 1952, ill. in b/w, p. 43, as Portrait of Madame Kisling, dated c. 1917.
Published References
Jewell 1928
Jewell, Edward Alden. "Goya and Modern Art." New York Times, October 21, 1928, mentioned p. 14, as Mme. Kisling.
New York Times 1928
"Further Comment on Art Exhibitions." New York Times, October 21, 1928, ill. in b/w, sec. 9, p. 15, as Portrait of Mme. Kisling.
Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 1929
"French Art Since Eighteen Hundred." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 16, no. 9 (November 1929), p. 172, as Portrait of Mme. Kisling, n.d.
Pfannstiel 1929
Pfannstiel, Arthur. Modigliani: catalogue présumé. Paris: Éditions Marcel Seheur, 1929. Monograph, Catalogue p. 26, as Portrait de Mme Kisling, dated 1917.
Dale 1929b
Dale, Maud. Modigliani. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1929. Monograph, no. 33, ill. in b/w, as Portrait of Mme. Kisling.
Dale 1929c
Dale, Maud. Before Manet to Modigliani from the Chester Dale Collection. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1929, no. 96, ill. in b/w, as Portrait of Mme. Kisling.
The Art News 1931a
"Demotte Holds Modigliani Show." The Art News (New York) 30, no. 6 (November 7, 1931), mentioned p. 7, as Portrait de Madame Kisling.
Meidner 1943
Meidner, Ludwig. "The Young Modigliani: Some Memories." The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs (London) 32, no. 481 (April 1943), pl. I, ill. in b/w, as Portrait of a Woman.
Philadelphia Museum of Art 1943
Paintings from the Chester Dale Collection. Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1943, ill. in b/w, n.p., as Portrait of Mme. Kisling, dated 1917.
Pfannstiel 1956
Pfannstiel, Arthur. Modigliani et son œuvre. Paris: Bibliotèque des Arts, 1956. Monograph, no. 165, as Portrait de Mme Kisling.
Ceroni 1970
Ceroni, Ambrogio. I dipinti di Modigliani. Milan: Rizzoli Editore, 1970. Monograph, no. 103, p. 92, ill. in b/w, p. 93, as Renée Kisling.
Record last updated August 30, 2026. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Modigliani Initiative. "Madame Kisling, c.1917 (AMDC 41)." In Amedeo Modigliani Digital Catalogue. catalogue.modigliani-initiative.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=41 (accessed on September 21, 2026).