Painting technique · Art history
The pigments behind Modigliani's paintings
A technical breakdown of every pigment identified across three major works: Jean-Baptiste Alexandre au crucifix (1909), Self-Portrait (1919), and Jeanne Hébuterne (1919), with brief notes on two further paintings.
Post-Impressionism · Expressionism · Oil on canvas · Five paintings examined
Modigliani's palette sits at a precise historical threshold. The earth pigments, lead white, vermilion, and bone black that structured centuries of European painting are all present in his work, used in ways that would be recognizable to any Old Master. Alongside them, however, are the industrial pigments of the nineteenth century: Prussian blue, chrome yellow, chrome green, cobalt blue, and cadmium yellow. The newer pigments had been available for less than a century when Modigliani was using them, and their presence alongside the ancient materials gives his work its specific chromatic character, combining the warmth and depth of the traditional palette with the hard intensity of the synthetic colours.
Technical analysis of his paintings has also revealed an unusual ground preparation. Rather than the conventional lead white ground of academic painting, Modigliani used a mixture of lead white and gypsum as his canvas preparation, and lithopone (a mixture of barium sulfate and zinc sulfide) has been confirmed as a distinctive component of his flesh paint preparation, establishing it as a fingerprint of his studio practice.
Jean-Baptiste Alexandre au crucifix, 1909
Oil on canvas · 92 x 75 cm · Modernist
One of the most technically examined of Modigliani's works. MA-XRF and SEM-EDS analysis revealed a ground preparation of lead white and gypsum and confirmed the presence of lithopone in the flesh passages. The jacket, which reads as near-black in normal viewing, turns out to be one of the most complex passages in the painting, built from at least five distinct pigments. The background is divided into two distinct color zones with different pigment bases, and the blue-green highlights around the sitter's head are a separate layer of chromatic refinement.
Pigments
Look at: the head of the sitter; the preparation ground throughout; facial features and skin modelling
Basic lead carbonate. Used first to define the shape of the head, then alongside lithopone to paint facial features in detail. Also forms the base of the canvas preparation combined with gypsum. MA-XRF analysis confirmed its presence throughout the preparation and flesh passages.
Lithopone
Look at: the flesh tones and face; mixed throughout the skin preparation
A mixture of barium sulfate and zinc sulfide, confirmed by MA-XRF and SEM-EDS analysis. Used alongside lead white in the flesh passages to paint facial features. Its presence has been identified as a characteristic fingerprint of Modigliani's studio practice across multiple examined paintings. Not sold separately; zinc white is the closest available zinc-based white.
Look at: the skin tones; traces in the jacket; the cross
Mercuric sulfide. The primary red in the skin of the sitter, used to produce the warm terracotta flesh tone. Also present in small amounts in the dark jacket mixture and in the cross, where it appears alongside cobalt blue, bone black, and earth pigments.
Look at: the jacket; the cross
Charred animal bone. One of the five pigments making up the dark jacket, used alongside Prussian blue, cobalt blue, chrome green, and a little vermilion and red lake. The same combination appears in the cross. The jacket's apparent blackness at normal viewing distance conceals an exceptionally complex multi-pigment mixture.
Look at: the jacket
Iron(III) hexacyanoferrate(II). One of the five pigments used in the dark jacket mixture alongside bone black, cobalt blue, chrome green, vermilion, and red lake. Its deep, cool undertone contributes to the jacket's near-black appearance while preventing it from reading as a flat dead black.
Look at: the jacket; the blue-green highlights around the head; the cross; the upper part of the red strip in the background
Cobalt(II) aluminate. Present in four distinct areas: in the dark jacket mixture, in the blue-green highlights applied around the head, in the cross, and added to the red lake in the upper portion of the red background strip. Its versatility here reflects Modigliani's use of cobalt blue as a key chromatic modifying pigment across the whole composition.
Look at: the right side of the background (dextral); the jacket; the blue-green highlights around the head; the chair back (small amount)
A mixture of Prussian blue and chrome yellow producing a deep, opaque green. Dominates the right half of the background. Also present in the dark jacket mixture, in the blue-green highlights around the head alongside cobalt blue, and as a minor component in the chair back paint.
Look at: the left side of the background (senestral); small addition in the jacket
Organic red lake. Dominates the left half of the background, producing the warm crimson zone that contrasts with the chrome green right side. Present in small amounts in the dark jacket mixture alongside the other pigments.
Look at: the cross; the underlying composition (MA-XRF)
Iron oxide earth pigments. Present in the cross alongside cobalt blue, bone black, and vermilion. MA-XRF analysis of the underlying composition detected iron-based pigments (sienna, ochre, and umber tones) in the head and background, indicating a warm earth-pigment layer beneath the current paint surface, consistent with Modigliani's practice of building compositions over warm-toned underlayers.
Scheele's green (emerald green)
Look at: the underlying composition detected by MA-XRF
Copper acetoarsenite. Detected by MA-XRF in the underlying composition of the head and background areas alongside vermilion and iron-based pigments. Present in the earlier layer beneath the visible paint surface, indicating Modigliani reworked this composition over an earlier one that used emerald green as a significant component.
Lead white
Lithopone
Vermilion
Bone black
Prussian blue
Cobalt blue
Chrome green
Red lake
Earth pigments
Scheele's green
Self-Portrait, 1919
Oil on canvas · 100 x 64.5 cm · Expressionism, Fauvism
Modigliani's only known Self-Portrait, painted in the last year of his life. The preparation base of lead white and gypsum is again present throughout. The palette is dominated by the warm industrial pigments of the late nineteenth century: chrome yellow and zinc chrome yellow produce the vivid yellow of the background and chair, chrome orange and mars yellow contribute to the coat and face, and soot black is used extensively to model shades and shadows throughout the composition. The palette on the table in front of him is depicted with a particular chromatic intensity, using both ultramarine and Prussian blue alongside vermilion cinnabar.
Pigments
Look at: the canvas preparation throughout; the lighter flesh tones; the palette
Basic lead carbonate. Forms the preparation base alongside gypsum and is used throughout the painting for lighter passages and tonal modulation. Also present in the skin alongside vermilion and the chrome-based yellows.
Look at: the red on the depicted palette; the skin tones of Modigliani's face and hands
Mercuric sulfide (cinnabar pigment). Used to depict the red paint on the palette and as the warm red component of the skin tones. Also noted in the palette alongside ultramarine and Prussian blue, rendered as a realistic still-life of his actual working materials.
Look at: the coat and jacket; the warm earth tones of the face
Synthetic iron oxide yellow. Used in the coat and chair alongside mars red or red and yellow ochre. The synthetic iron oxides (mars pigments) produce a more intense and consistent tone than their natural earth equivalents while retaining the same warm, muted quality.
Look at: the coat; the warm shadow areas
Synthetic iron oxide red. Used alongside mars yellow and ochres in the coat and the warm shadow passages of the face and figure.
Look at: the chair; warm yellow passages in the face
Lead chromate. Used in the chair alongside zinc chrome yellow and chrome orange. The chrome yellows of the nineteenth century gave painters access to an intensity of yellow previously unavailable and are a consistent feature of Modigliani's warm passages.
Look at: the background throughout; the chair and face
Zinc chromate. Used throughout the background as the primary yellow, and also present in the chair and face passages alongside chrome yellow and chrome orange. Its cooler, slightly greener yellow tone contrasts with the warmer chrome yellow and gives the background its distinctive acid quality.
Look at: the chair; the warm orange-yellow passages of the face
Basic lead chromate. Used in the chair alongside chrome yellow and zinc chrome yellow, and contributing to the warm orange tones in the face passages.
Look at: the signature; the black passage at the left of the portrait
Charred animal bone. Used for the signature and for the hard black passage at the left edge of the composition.
Look at: the trousers; shading throughout the figure and background
Fine carbon black. Used extensively to create shades and tonal gradations throughout the composition, including the dark trousers. Distinguished from bone black in its role here as a general shadowing and darkening agent rather than a structural black.
Look at: the depicted palette on the table; the scarf; the window passages
Synthetic ultramarine (French ultramarine). Used in the depicted palette alongside Prussian blue and vermilion, in the scarf, and in the window areas. Its presence on the painted palette is doubly significant as both a compositional element and a record of the pigments Modigliani actually used in his studio.
Look at: the depicted palette; the scarf; the window areas
Iron(III) hexacyanoferrate(II). Used alongside ultramarine in the palette, scarf, and window passages. The pairing of ultramarine and Prussian blue allows a range of blue tones, from the warm violet-leaning ultramarine to the cooler, greener Prussian blue.
Look at: the dark passages of the coat; deep shadow areas
Manganese dioxide or manganese-rich earth (umber). Used in the coat to produce the deeper, more complex darks of the shadow passages, distinguished from the flat bone black of the signature and the diffuse soot black of the shadows throughout.
Lead white
Vermilion
Mars yellow
Mars red
Chrome yellow
Zinc chrome yellow
Chrome orange
Bone black
Soot black
Ultramarine
Prussian blue
Manganese black
Jeanne Hébuterne, 1919
Oil on canvas · 91.4 x 73 cm · Expressionism, Fauvism
One of the last and most technically studied portraits of Jeanne Hébuterne, Modigliani's partner. The palette here is more restrained than the Self-Portrait: the background is divided into three distinct zones (blue, green, and yellow) each using a single dominant pigment, and the skin is a carefully modulated mixture of lead white, zinc white, and chrome-based yellows. The black skirt is bone black throughout, and the white chemise is the purest passage in the painting, relying on lead white and zinc white with no colorants added.
Pigments
Look at: the white chemise; the skin; the canvas preparation throughout
Basic lead carbonate. Used pure alongside zinc white in the white chemise. Also the primary base of the skin mixture, combined with zinc white, chrome yellow, and chrome orange with small amounts of yellow ochre to produce the characteristic cool-warm flesh tone.
Look at: the white chemise; mixed throughout the skin passages
Zinc oxide. Used alongside lead white in the white chemise and as a component of the skin mixture. Zinc white adds a cooler, slightly bluer tone than lead white and reduces the tendency of the paint to yellow with age, making it a useful modifier in passages requiring a bright, clean white.
Look at: the red lips
Mercuric sulfide. Used for the red lips, one of the few passages of pure saturated color in an otherwise tonally restrained painting.
Look at: the skin; the hair; the yellowish background zone
Lead chromate. A key component of the skin mixture alongside lead white, zinc white, and chrome orange. Also present in the brown hair with yellow ochre and chrome orange, and in the yellowish background zone.
Look at: the skin; the hair
Basic lead chromate. Used in the skin mixture alongside lead white, zinc white, and chrome yellow, adding warmth and a slight orange cast to the flesh tones. Also present in the hair mixture with ochres, umber, and chrome yellow.
Look at: the hair; the brownish armchair; the skin (small addition); the yellowish background zone
Iron oxide earth pigment. Used in the hair alongside ochres, umber, chrome yellow, and chrome orange to produce the warm brown. Also in the brownish armchair with umber and as a small addition in the skin mixture and yellowish background zone.
Look at: the hair; the brownish armchair
Manganese-rich earth pigment. Used in the hair and armchair passages to provide the deep brown tones that chrome yellow and ochre alone would not achieve.
Look at: the black skirt
Charred animal bone. The black skirt is bone black throughout, a single-pigment passage of pure structural black that anchors the lower half of the composition.
Look at: the blue background zone
Iron(III) hexacyanoferrate(II). The sole colorant in the blue background zone, used as a single dominant pigment to produce the deep, slightly greenish blue that occupies the left portion of the background.
Scheele's green (emerald green)
Look at: the greenish background zone
Copper acetoarsenite (emerald green). Used as the sole colorant in the greenish background zone, producing its characteristic cold, slightly bluish green. Modigliani used emerald green consistently across his late portraits as the green background component, and its presence here is part of his signature tripartite background structure.
Lead white
Zinc white
Vermilion
Chrome yellow
Chrome orange
Yellow ochre
Umber
Bone black
Prussian blue
Emerald green
Two further paintings
Brief technical notes from non-invasive analysis
Nude, 1917
Technical analysis of Modigliani's painted nudes from 1916-17 has confirmed the use of viridian as a component of the background in these works. Viridian (hydrated chromium oxide, Cr₂O₃·2H₂O) produces a cool, transparent green used here to cool and model shadow areas. Its presence alongside vermilion, lead white, and earth pigments is consistent with the palette documented in the other late works.
Portrait of Jeanne Hébuterne, 1918-19
Analysis of this portrait confirmed the use of cadmium yellow in the yellow passages, making it one of the earliest documented uses of cadmium yellow in Modigliani's surviving work. Cadmium sulfide produces a warmer, more orange-tending yellow than the chrome yellows dominant in his other examined paintings. Its presence here alongside the standard Modigliani palette of vermilion, lead white, Prussian blue, and earth pigments places this portrait within the same technical tradition while showing him extending his range of yellow colorants toward the end of his career.
Complete palette: all pigments across the five paintings
Every pigment identified in the source notes, which painting it appears in, and its role.
Basic lead carbonate. Canvas preparation base throughout. Flesh modelling in all three major works.
Lithopone
Barium sulfate and zinc sulfide mixture. Confirmed by MA-XRF and SEM-EDS. A fingerprint of Modigliani's flesh paint preparation.
Mercuric sulfide. Skin tones and reds in all three major works. Depicted on the painted palette in the Self-Portrait.
Charred animal bone. Jacket, cross, signature, and black skirt across all three works.
Fine carbon black. Shading and tonal gradation throughout the Self-Portrait.
Iron cyanide blue. Present across all examined works. Jacket, scarf, windows, palette, and blue background zone.
Cobalt aluminate. Jacket, blue-green highlights, cross, and background of Jean-Baptiste.
Synthetic ultramarine. Palette, scarf, and window passages of the Self-Portrait.
Prussian blue and chrome yellow mixture. Right background, jacket, and head highlights of Jean-Baptiste.
Scheele's green (emerald green)
Copper acetoarsenite. Green background zones and underlying composition layer. Consistent across late portraits.
Hydrated chromium oxide. Found in the 1916-17 nudes in flesh and background passages.
Lead chromate. Chair, face, and skin passages. Key yellow in both late works.
Zinc chromate. Background throughout and chair/face of the Self-Portrait.
Basic lead chromate. Chair and flesh passages in both late works.
Cadmium sulfide. Confirmed in the 1918-19 Jeanne Hébuterne portrait. Warmer and more orange-tending than chrome yellow.
Synthetic iron oxide yellow. Coat and warm earth tones of the Self-Portrait.
Iron oxide earth. Hair, armchair, skin, and yellow background zone of Jeanne Hébuterne.
Earth pigments (sienna, ochre, umber)
Iron oxide earths. Cross and underlying composition layer of Jean-Baptiste, detected by MA-XRF.
Organic red lake. Left background zone and small addition in the jacket of Jean-Baptiste.
Manganese dioxide or umber. Deep coat shadows of the Self-Portrait.
Frequently asked questions
What made Modigliani's flesh tones distinctive technically?
The confirmation of lithopone (barium sulfate and zinc sulfide) as a consistent component of his flesh preparation is one of the most significant technical findings from analysis of his work. Combined with lead white and chrome-based yellows, it produces the characteristic pale, slightly chalky warmth of his skin passages. The canvas preparation of lead white mixed with gypsum rather than straight lead white is also an unusual and consistent feature.
Why does Modigliani's black jacket in Jean-Baptiste Alexandre contain five pigments?
The jacket reads as near-black at normal viewing distance, but MA-XRF analysis reveals it was built from bone black, Prussian blue, cobalt blue, chrome green, vermilion, and red lake. This complexity is characteristic of Modigliani's approach to dark passages: rather than using a single black pigment, he built his darks from overlapping colorants that prevent the passage from reading as dead or flat. The result is a black with chromatic depth visible under raking light and in cross-section.
What industrial pigments appear in Modigliani's work that would not have been available to earlier painters?
Prussian blue (available from 1704), chrome yellow and chrome green (early nineteenth century), cobalt blue (1802), cadmium yellow (mid-nineteenth century), viridian (1859), emerald green (Scheele's green, late eighteenth century), zinc white (mid-nineteenth century), and the synthetic iron oxide mars pigments are all present across his examined works. None of these existed before 1700, and several were less than a century old when Modigliani used them.
Did Modigliani repaint or rework his compositions?
MA-XRF analysis of Jean-Baptiste Alexandre au crucifix detected an underlying composition in the head and background areas containing iron-based pigments (sienna, ochre, and umber tones), vermilion, and emerald green. This layer is not visible in normal viewing but represents a different, earlier compositional arrangement beneath the finished surface, indicating Modigliani reworked at least this canvas significantly.
How consistent was Modigliani's palette across his career?
The core of vermilion, lead white, Prussian blue, bone black, and earth pigments appears in every examined work from 1909 through 1919. What changes is the range of yellows and greens: the chrome-based yellows and emerald green of the early work give way to a broader range including cadmium yellow and viridian in the later paintings. The lithopone preparation of the flesh passages and the gypsum-modified ground are consistent throughout, suggesting a studio practice that remained technically stable even as the visible palette evolved.
Vincent G. et al. "Modigliani's studio practice revealed by MA-XRF and non-invasive spectral imaging techniques." (2020).
Burnstock A., Duvernois I. & Stringari L. "Modigliani's painted nudes 1916-17." (2018).
Bezur A. et al. "Modigliani's late portraits." (2018).