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Artwork

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Year:
Theme: Nude
ID 44 (Ceroni 146)
Nude on a Blue Cushion
1917
Alternate titles: Akt; Femme nue; Jeune fille couchée; Liegender weiblicher Akt; Nu; Nu appuyé sur le bras droit; Nu couché; Nu couché (appuyé sur le bras droit); Nu couché accoudé; Nu Étendu; Nude; Nude on Blue Cushion; Nudo; Nudo sdraiato, col braccio destro appoggiato su un cuscino azzurro; Untitled
Oil on linen
25 3/4 x 39 3/4 in. (65.4 x 100.9 cm)
Front, upper right: modigliani
Reverse no longer visible
Creation location: Paris
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Chester Dale Collection. (1963.10.46)
1. "Reproduction: Modigliani, Nu couché." Les Arts à Paris (Paris) no. 13 (June 1927): 3.
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.
3. 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.
4. The return date was confirmed by Jane Joe, Philadelphia Museum of Art, email of February 20, 2026.
5. National Gallery of Art website.
Commentary

It is believed that Modigliani's art dealer Léopold Zborowski (1889–1932) was responsible for encouraging the artist to paint a series of nudes beginning around 1916/1917.1 Zborowski not only provided space in his home where the artist could paint, but also supplied him with the necessary materials and the models. The blue cushion on which the model is resting can also be found in Ceroni 147, 195, and 198.

According to the Dale Collection records, the art dealer Paul Guillaume (1901–1934) bought the painting directly from Modigliani in 1917.2 This seems unlikely, however, since the earliest record of the dealer's ownership of the painting is June 1927, when he reproduced it in his gallery publication.3

Canvas Information
Using digital X-ray images, automated thread count campaigns have identified paintings that were likely cut from the same bolt of canvas. This painting is part of Clique 10.4

  1. Anaïs Genty-Vincent and marie-Amélie Senot, "Seated Nude with a Shirt," in Barbara Buckley, Simonetta Fraquelli, Nancy Ireson, and Annette King, eds., Modigliani Up Close. Exh. cat. (Philadelphia: The Barnes Foundation, 2022), 132. For an extensive technical discussion on Modigliani's nudes, see Barbara Buckley, Aviva Burnstock, Silvia A. Centeno, Michael Duffy, Isabelle Duvernois, Anaïs Genty-Vincent, Jennifer Mass, Marie-Amélie Senot and Lena Stringari, "Modigliani’s Painted Nudes: A Technical Study," Tate Papers no. 35 (2022–23), https://www.tate.org.uk/research/tate-papers/35/modiglianis-painted-nudes-technical-study
  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.
  3. "Reproduction: Modigliani, Nu couché," Les Arts à Paris (Paris) no. 13 (June 1927): 3.
  4. Alice Craigie, National Gallery of Art, email of April 7, 2026. For more on the Thread Count Automation Project, see Don H. Johnson with Barbara Buckley and Annette King, “Thread Count Automation Project and the Study of Modigliani’s Canvases,” in Barbara Buckley, Simonetta Fraquelli, Nancy Ireson, and Annette King, eds., Modigliani Up Close. Exh. cat. (Philadelphia: The Barnes Foundation, 2022), 304–7.
Exhibitions
1925 Paris
Galerie Bing & Cie, Paris, Modigliani, October 24–November 15, 1925, no. 15 (or 23, 26, 29), as Jeune fille couchée.
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. 30, as Femme nue.
1931c New York
Demotte Inc, New York, Amedeo Modigliani, 1884–1920: Retrospective Exhibition of Paintings, November 7–28, 1931, no. 25, ill. in b/w, as Nu Étendu, dated c. 1918.
1933 Brussels
Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, Modigliani, November 4–26, 1933, no. 75, ill. in b/w, as Nu, n.d.
1934 Basel
Kunsthalle Basel, Switzerland, Modigliani, January 7–February 4, 1934, no. 65, as Nu, n.d.
1943–51 Philadelphia
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Paintings from the Chester Dale Collection, October 10, 1943–October 1951, unnum., ill. in b/w, as Nude on Blue Cushion.
Published References
Basler 1927
Basler, Adolphe. "Amadeo [sic] Modigliani." Le Crapouillot: Arts, Lettres, Spectacles (Paris) (August 1927), ill. in b/w, p. 13, as Nu.
Les Arts à Paris 1927
"Modigliani, Nu couché [Reproduction]." Les Arts à Paris: Actualités critiques et littéraires des arts et de la curiosité, no. 13 (June 1927), ill. in b/w, p. 3, as Nu couché.
Raynal 1927
Raynal, Maurice. Anthologie de la peinture en France de 1906 à nos jours. Paris: Éditions Montaigne, 1927, ill. in b/w, p. 241, as Untitled.
Raynal 1928
Raynal, Maurice. Modern French Painters. Ralph Roeder, trans. New York: Brentano's, 1928, ill. in b/w, p. 244, as Untitled.
Watson and Goodrich 1928
Watson, Forbes and Lloyd Goodrich. "Exhibitions in New York." The Arts (New York) 14, no. 5 (November 1928), ill. in b/w, p. 272, as Nude.
The Art News 1928a
"Selections from the Chester Dale Collection." The Art News (New York) 27, no. 3 (October 20, 1928), ill. in b/w, p. 3, as Nude.
Pfannstiel 1929
Pfannstiel, Arthur. Modigliani: catalogue présumé. Paris: Éditions Marcel Seheur, 1929. Monograph, Catalogue p. 25, as Nu appuyé sur le bras droit.
Dale 1929b
Dale, Maud. Modigliani. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1929. Monograph, no. 38, ill. in b/w, as Nude.
Dale 1929c
Dale, Maud. Before Manet to Modigliani from the Chester Dale Collection. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1929, no. 101, ill. in b/w, as Nude.
Basler 1931
Basler, Adolphe. Modigliani. Paris: Les Éditions G. Crès et Cie, 1931. Monograph, no. 25, ill. in b/w, as Nu couché.
Stoermer 1931
Stoermer, Curt. "Errinerung an Modigliani." Der Querschnitt (Berlin) 11, no. 6 (June 1931), ill. in b/w, n.p., as Akt.
Craven 1934
Craven, Thomas. Modern Art: The Men The Movements The Meaning. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1934, ill. in b/w, n.p. (before p. 203), as Nude.
Slocombe 1939
Slocombe, George. Rebels of Art: Manet to Matisse. Commentary by Murdock Pemberton. New York: Robert M. McBride & Company, 1939, pl. 27, ill. in b/w, as Femme nue.
Philadelphia Museum of Art 1943
Paintings from the Chester Dale Collection. Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1943, ill. in b/w, n.p., as Nude on Blue Cushion.
Franchi 1946
Franchi, Raffaello. Modigliani. Florence: Arnaud, 1946. Monograph, pl. XXXIV, ill. in b/w, as Nudo.
San Lazzaro 1953
San Lazzaro, Gualtieri di. Modigliani. Paris: Les Éditions du Chêne, 1953. Monograph, no. 50, ill. in b/w, p. 9, as Nu couché.
Pfannstiel 1956
Pfannstiel, Arthur. Modigliani et son œuvre. Paris: Bibliotèque des Arts, 1956. Monograph, no. 153, as Nu appuyé sur le bras droit.
Ceroni 1965
Ceroni, Ambrogio. Amedeo Modigliani: Dessins et Sculptures, avec suite du catalogue illustré des peintures. Milan: Edizioni del Milione, 1965. Monograph, no. 196, ill. in b/w, as Nu couché (appuyé sur le bras droit).
Ceroni 1970
Ceroni, Ambrogio. I dipinti di Modigliani. Milan: Rizzoli Editore, 1970. Monograph, no. 146, p. 95, ill. in b/w, as Nudo sdraiato, col braccio destro appoggiato su un cuscino azzurro.
Record last updated April 10, 2026. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Modigliani Initiative. "Nude on a Blue Cushion, 1917 (ID 44)." In Amedeo Modigliani Digital Catalogue. catalogue.modigliani-initiative.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=44 (accessed on May 11, 2026).