Léon Bakst

Amedeo Modigliani

National Gallery of Art

This painting is a portrait showing a man from the chest up. The man's facial features are flattened and simplified, and he has pale skin with slightly blushing cheeks, narrow blue eyes, thin, arched eyebrows, a blond mustache, and short, light brown hair. Lines on the bridge of his nose and under his left eye suggest a pair of barely visible glasses. He is wearing a black garment with round tan patterns and a bright blue scarf. The background is mostly gray with a vertical stripe of brown on the right side. The brushstrokes are visible in the painting, especially those in the background. There is a signature on the top, near the top right corner.