Modigliani moved to Paris after studying art in Florence and Venice. Initially he applied himself to sculpture, under Brancusi’s influence, but for economic and health reasons, he came to specialize in painting instead. The majority of those works are of the human figure and have a distinctive structure and form: a slightly tilted head, almond-shaped eyes, and a long, slender, supply rounded body. His model for this painting was probably a farmer he met in southern France while there for rest and recuperation. Modigliani, while depicting the farmer in his own manner, expresses his model’s interior qualities as well.