Beauty from Another World

Modigliani painted people who don't exist — faces too long, necks too thin, eyes that are often blank voids. And yet his portraits feel more human and more tender than photographic realism.

He found beauty by leaving out everything that wasn't essential. His elongated forms drew not only from African masks but also from Botticelli, Byzantine art, and his friend Brâncuși's sculpture — sources he fused into a look that is instantly his.