Amedeo Modigliani (1884–1920) was one of the greatest artists of the twentieth century. He lived a troubled life, in economic precariousness and illness. He contracted tuberculosis at a young age which brought him prematurely to death at the age of 35 years [1].

Most of his artworks are nudes and portraits. An unmistakable characteristic of his portraits is the thin and long neck of the personages. It is believed that this feature is related to the influence of exotic art on Modigliani style, and to the will of author to underline the flexibility and elegance of female gender. “La femme en blouse marine” (1916) (Fig. 1) belongs to the last period of the author’s life and has some peculiarities. Although characterized by elongated shapes, the neck is clearly round and enlarged, and the eyes are big and well defined, both very unusual findings in Modigliani’s work [2]. We cannot be sure that this is a case of true thyroid swelling, but the hypothesis cannot be ruled out. Indeed, Modigliani could have represented a female subject with a goitrous neck, modifying it partially in length, according to his pictorial style.

Fig. 1
figure 1

Amedeo Modigliani: “La femme en blouse marine”, 1916. Oil on canvas, 55 × 35 cm Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, Venice, Italy

Full size image