Jacques and Berthe Lipchitz

Amedeo Modigliani · 1916

Medium

Oil on canvas

Original size

81.3 × 54.3 cm (32 × 21 3/8 in.)

Currently held

Art Institute of Chicago

Movement

Modernism

Painted in 1916, this double portrait of sculptor Jacques Lipchitz and his wife Berthe carries the quiet intimacy of two people who trusted their painter completely. Modigliani was at the height of his portraiture at this period, developing the style that would define him: elongated necks, tilted oval faces, and eyes rendered as smooth, sightless forms — a device borrowed in part from his study of African masks and Khmer sculpture. Rather than psychological penetration, he sought a kind of distilled essence, stripping away detail to reveal character through posture and proportion alone. The contrast between Jacques's dark, solid figure and Berthe's lighter, more reserved presence gives the composition a natural tension. Lipchitz, a fellow émigré artist in Paris, was a genuine friend of Modigliani's, and the painting was reportedly completed in a single session — a testament to the ease between them. Our hand-painted oil reproduction is executed on canvas with the same warm ochres, muted blues, and layered flesh tones that distinguish the original, preserving the texture and intimacy that a print cannot replicate.