Moïse Kisling (born Mojżesz Kisling; 1891–1953) was a Polish-born French painter. Born in Kraków, then part of Austria-Hungary, to Jewish parents, Kisling studied at the Academy of Fine Arts. He left for Paris in 1910 at the age of 19. After moving to Montmartre, Kisling became a member of the Parisian avant-garde known also as the School of Paris, and developed close professional relationships with painters Amedeo Modigliani and Jules Pascin, among others. Kisling gained recognition for portraying the female form and completed numerous nudes and portraits during his career.
He became a French national in 1924, after serving and being wounded with the French Foreign Legion in World War I. In 1940, despite being 49, Kisling rejoined the army for World War II but moved to the United States following the French Army's surrender and the impending threat to Jews in occupied France. In the U.S., he exhibited his works in New York City and Washington and settled in Southern California. After World War II and the defeat of Nazi Germany, Kisling returned to France. He lived his later years continuing his artwork until his death in 1953, after a brief illness.
His works are held by museums globally, including the Harvard Art Museums, British Museum, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, among other institutions. The Musée du Petit Palais in Geneva holds a significant collection of Kisling's paintings.
At the outbreak of World War I, he volunteered for service in the French Foreign Legion. He was seriously wounded in 1916 in the Battle of the Somme.
Kisling lived and worked in Montparnasse and as part of its renowned artistic community, he joined an émigré community of Americans, British and Eastern European artists. Most of the French kept to themselves, although the artistic community was international. In 1911–1912 he spent nearly a year at Céret, and by 1913, he had moved to Bateau-Lavoir in Montmartre, where he lived briefly.
Eventually around 1913, he took a home residence and art studio on 3 Rue Joseph-Bara in Montparnasse, however he spent a lot of his time in Southern France in the 1920s. Kisling maintained the Paris residence and studio on Rue Joseph-Bara through World War II, and upon his return after the war it had been ransacked. The artists Jules Pascin, Léopold Zborowski, and later Amedeo Modigliani lived in the same building.
He became close friends with many of his contemporaries, including Amedeo Modigliani, who painted a portrait of him in 1916 (in the collection of the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris). His style in painting landscapes is similar to that of Marc Chagall. A master at depicting the female body, his surreal nudes and portraits earned him the widest acclaim.
Under the Vichy government, certain critics suggested too many foreigners, especially Jews, were diminishing French traditions. Their comments were part of a rise in anti-Semitism during the German occupation, resulting in French cooperation in the deportation and deaths of tens of thousands of foreign and French Jews in concentration camps. Kisling returned to France after the war and defeat of Germany.
© 2025. All content on this blog is protected by international copyright laws All images are copyrighted © by Moïse Kisling or assignee. Apart from fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review as permitted under the Copyright Act, the use of any image from this site is prohibited unless prior written permission is obtained. All images used for illustrative purposes only
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| Moïse Kislin, c. 1920 |
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| Moïse Kislin |
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| Pablo Picasso, Moise Kisling, Paquerette, c. 1916 Cafe-la-Rotonde, Paris |
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| Portrait of Andre Salmon. c. 1912 |
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| Portrait de Katznelson, c. 1912 |
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| La Sieste à Saint-Tropez, c. 1916 |
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| Sagunto, c. 1916 |
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| Portrait of Jean Cocteau, c. 1916 |
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| Reclining nude, c. 1917 |
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| La mère et ses enfants, c. 1917 |
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| Tête de femme, c. 1918-20 |
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| Port de Saint-Tropez, c. 1918 |
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| Contrasting sounds, c. 1918 |
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| Portrait de la soeur de Mme Renée Kisling, c. 1919 |
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| Pansies, c. 1920 |
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| Portrait au voile gris, c. 1920 |
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| Portrait de Madame Renée Kisling, c. 1920 |
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| Bouquet de fleurs dans un vase, c. 1925 |
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| Portrait of Renée Kisling, c. 1928 |
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| Petite tête brune, c. 1930 |
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| Young Dutch woman, c. 1930 |
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| Portrait of a young woman, c. 1933 |
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| Young blond boy, c. 1937 |
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| Portrait with a collar, c. 1938 |
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| Petite tête fleurie, c. 1939 |
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| Fleurs au vase bleu, c. 1942 |
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| Mimosas, c. 1942 |
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| Ms B. Dunn, c. 1943 |
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| Portrait violiniste Milstein, c. 1945 |
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| Les Pensées, c. 1948 |
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| The boy, c. 1948 |
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| Large red nude, c. 1949 |
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| Not identified, c. 1952 |
