Reclining nude (La rêveuse)

Oil on canvas, 1917

Date1917

MediumOil on canvas

Size59.7 × 92.1 cm

CollectionKoch Collection, Massachusetts

SignatureTop right

Investigation1917-w-8

Identification

Published titles: English: Reclining nude; Lying nude, the dreamer.
French: La rêveuse.
Date: 1917. Pfannstiel 1956 dates the work 1918. Lanthemann dates it 1916.
Medium: Oil on canvas.
Dimensions: 59.7 × 92.1 cm. Patani, Parisot, Ceroni and Pfannstiel: 60 × 92 cm.
Signature: Signed modigliani at top right in white.
Present location: Koch Collection, Massachusetts.

Catalogue numbers

Compiler	Number
Arthur Pfannstiel	no. 291
Joseph Lanthemann	no. 151
Ambrogio Ceroni	no. 197
Jeanne Modigliani	YES
Christian Parisot	34/1917
Osvaldo Patani	no. 204
Modigliani Project	?
MR	YES
Modigliani Initiative	?

Legal note on MR: This investigation has not had access to MR’s catalogue raisonné; all research here is based on open sources, publications and exhibitions. By no means has that catalogue been copied at any point. Modigliani Project and Modigliani Initiative are marked YES when the work is published or otherwise recorded by those projects, even if no catalogue number is assigned; otherwise the field is marked ?.

Provenance

Léopold Zborowski, Paris.
Galerie Weill, Paris (1917)?
Léopold Zborowski, Paris.
Netter Collection, Paris (acquired 1929).
Nelson A. Rockefeller Collection, New York (until 1979).
Sale, Sotheby’s, New York, 14 November 1984, lot 57 (sold USD 4,620,000).
Koch Collection, Massachusetts.

The sequence follows the published museum, sale, and catalogue record in this investigation. Gaps and uncertain transfers are marked as such.

Selected bibliography

Book-length publications are marked with a footnote giving a full citation. Exhibition catalogues appear in both this list and the exhibition list when this investigation recorded them in both places. Where this investigation listed a long run of secondary mentions, only the principal catalogues and museum or sale references are retained here.

André Salmon, 1926, pl. 28.¹
Arthur Pfannstiel, 1929, p. 18.²
Arthur Pfannstiel, 1956, no. 123 in one citation and no. 291 in this investigation (dated 1918).³
Jeanne Modigliani, 1958 / 1961.⁴
Ambrogio Ceroni, 1965, no. 197.⁵
Joseph Lanthemann, 1970, no. 155 in one citation and no. 151 in this investigation (dated 1916).⁶
Ambrogio Ceroni and Leone Piccioni, 1970, no. 197 (dated 1917).⁷
Lee Boltin, 1981, pp. 28, 35, 36, 69.⁸
Christian Parisot, 1991, no. 34/1917.⁹
Osvaldo Patani, 1991–94, no. 204 (dated 1917).¹⁰
MR, 2002, pp. 294–295, no. 60.¹¹
Mason Klein, 2004, p. 134, pl. 49.¹²

Exhibitions

Paris, Berthe Weill Gallery, 1917 (recorded with a query).
Paris, Galerie Bing et Cie, 1925, no. 5, titled La rêveuse.
Zurich, Kunsthaus, 1927, no. 104.
Venice, Biennale, sala Venturi, 1930, no. 12.
Brussels, Palais des Beaux-Arts, 1933, no. 30 (Netter Collection; dated 1917).
Basel, Kunsthalle, 1934, no. 22.
New York, Perls Galleries, The Nudes of Modigliani, 1966, no. 5.
Paris, Musée du Luxembourg, 2002, no. 60.
New York, The Jewish Museum, Modigliani: Beyond the Myth, 2004.

Notes

D’Atri papers no. 30, dated 1917, titled Nu couché, 60 × 92 cm, Netter Collection.

This investigation marked several fields as still being checked. The facts above are those already published; where sources disagree, both readings are given.

La rêveuse — The painting as reproduced in this investigation.

Signature in position — Signature position as published in an older reproduction.

Eyes and nose — Eye and nose construction recorded in this investigation.

The painting at the Venice Biennale, 1930.

Footnotes

André Salmon, Modigliani, sa vie et son œuvre, Paris, Éditions des Quatre Chemins, 1926.
Arthur Pfannstiel, Modigliani. L’Art et la Vie, preface by Louis Latourette, Paris, Seheur, 1929 (presumed catalogue).
Arthur Pfannstiel, Modigliani et son œuvre, étude critique et catalogue raisonné, Paris, Bibliothèque des Arts, 1956.
Jeanne Modigliani, Modigliani: Man and Myth, New York, Orion Press, 1958.
Ambrogio Ceroni, Amedeo Modigliani: dessins et sculptures; avec suite du catalogue illustré des peintures, Milan, Edizioni del Milione, 1965.
Joseph Lanthemann, Modigliani, catalogue raisonné: sa vie, son œuvre, son art, Barcelona, G. Condal, 1970.
Ambrogio Ceroni and Leone Piccioni, I dipinti di Modigliani, Milan, Rizzoli, 1970.
Lee Boltin, The Nelson A. Rockefeller Collection: Masterpieces of Modern Art, New York, Hudson Hills Press, 1981.
Christian Parisot, Catalogue raisonné Modigliani, Livorno, Graphis Arte, 1991.
Osvaldo Patani, Modigliani. Catalogo generale, Milan, Leonardo, 1991–94.
MR, Modigliani: l’ange au visage grave, Paris, Musée du Luxembourg, 2002.
Mason Klein, Modigliani: Beyond the Myth, New York, The Jewish Museum, 2004.