Amedeo Modigliani short biography. Amedeo Modigliani's Parisian sleepwalker Modigliani's biography is a ready-made romantic melodrama, to which nothing needs to be added

This unrecognized genius died in dire poverty, and now for his paintings at auctions lay out a fortune. The name of the scandalous artist, about whom one of his colleagues said that "the original painter was a star boy, and for him reality did not exist," is shrouded in legends. The work of the great creator, who did nothing for show, cannot be placed within the framework of one artistic direction.

Amedeo Modigliani: a short biography

The Italian painter and sculptor Amedeo Modigliani was born in Livorno in 1884 into a Jewish family. His father declares himself bankrupt, and the boy's mother, who received an excellent education, becomes the head of the family in difficult times. Possessing a strong character and unbending will, a woman who knows several languages ​​perfectly earns money by translating. The youngest son Amedeo is a very beautiful and sickly child, and Eugenia Modigliani does not have a soul in her baby.

The boy is strongly attached to his mother, who quickly recognizes his ability to draw. She sends her 14-year-old son to the local artist Micheli's school. A teenager, who by that time had received a versatile education, forgets about everything, he only does what he draws for days, completely surrendering to his passion.

Acquaintance with the masterpieces of world art

A frequently ill boy, who was also diagnosed with tuberculosis, was taken by his mother to the island of Capri in 1900 to improve his health. Amedeo Modigliani, who visited Rome, Venice, Florence, gets acquainted with the greatest masterpieces of world art and mentions in his letters that "beautiful images have disturbed his imagination ever since." The recognized Italian masters, including Botticelli, became the teachers of the young painter. Later, the artist, who dreams of devoting his life to art, will resurrect the refinement and lyricism of their images in his works.

Two years later, the young man moved to Florence and entered the school of painting, and later continued his studies in Venice, where, according to researchers of the genius, he became addicted to hashish. The young man develops an individual style of writing, which is fundamentally different from the existing artistic trends.

Bohemian life in Paris

A few years later, Amedeo Modigliani, who lost his inspiration in Italy, thinks about the bohemian life in France. He longs for freedom, and his mother helps her beloved son move to Paris to Montmartre and supports all his creative pursuits. Since 1906, Modi, as the artist's new friends call him (by the way, the word maudit is translated from French as "damned"), enjoys the special spirit of the city. A handsome painter, who has no end to fans, does not have enough money.

He wanders around the cheapest furnished rooms, drinks a lot and tries drugs. However, everyone notes that the artist, addicted to alcohol, has a special love for cleanliness, and he washes his only shirt every day. No one could compete in terms of elegance with the irresistible Amedeo Modigliani. Photos of the artist, which have survived to this day, perfectly convey his amazing beauty and sophistication. All the ladies go crazy at the sight of a tall painter dressed in a velor suit walking along the street with a sketchbook at the ready. And none of them could resist the charm of the poor master.

Many mistake him for an Italian, but Modigliani, who opposes anti-Semites, does not hide the fact that he is a Jew. An independent person who considers himself an outcast in society does not mislead anyone.

Unrecognized genius

In France, Amedeo is looking for his style, paints, and treats new friends in bars with the proceeds from their sale. For three years spent in Paris, Modigliani does not receive recognition from viewers and critics, although the artist's friends consider him an unrecognized genius.

In 1909, Amedeo Modigliani, whose biography is filled with dramatic events, meets the very eccentric sculptor Brancusi and is fond of working with stone. The young man does not have enough money for wood or sandstone for future masterpieces, and he steals the necessary material from the construction site of the city metro at night. Later, he quits sculpting because of a diseased lung.

Platonic romance with Akhmatova

A new period in the master's work begins after meeting A. Akhmatova, who arrived in Paris with her husband N. Gumilyov. Amedeo is fond of the poetess, calls her the queen of Egypt and endlessly admires her talent. As Anna later admits, they were connected only by a platonic relationship, and this unusual romance energized two creative people. Inspired by a new feeling, an ardent man paints portraits of Akhmatova, which have not survived to this day.

Most of the works sent to Russia disappeared during the revolution. Anna had one portrait left, which she incredibly cherished and considered her main wealth. Recently, three surviving sketches of a naked poetess were found, although Akhmatova herself claimed that she never posed without clothes, and all of Modi's drawings are just his fantasy.

New relationship

In 1914, the artist Amedeo Modigliani met the English traveler, poetess, journalist B. Hastings, and all of Paris was watching the stormy showdown between the two people. The emancipated muse of a genius was a match for her beloved, and after violent quarrels, insults, scandals that shook the city, a truce follows. An emotional painter is jealous of his girlfriend, beats, suspecting flirting and betrayal. He drags her by the hair and even throws the woman out of the window. Beatrice tries to rid her lover of addictions, but she is not very good at it. Tired of endless quarrels, the journalist leaves Modigliani two years later, who wrote his best works during this period. They never saw each other again.

The main love of the painter's life

In 1917, the scandalous artist met a 19-year-old student Jeanne, who became his favorite model, muse and most devoted friend. The lovers settle down together, despite protests from the girl's parents, who do not want to see a riotous Jew as their son-in-law. In 1918, the couple moved to Nice, where a comfortable climate favorably affects the health of the master, undermined by alcohol and drugs, but neglected tuberculosis is no longer amenable to treatment. In the fall, happy Amedeo Modigliani and Jeanne Hebuterne become parents, and the painter in love invites his girlfriend to register a marriage, but a rapidly developing illness ruins all plans.

At this time, the artist's agent arranges exhibitions and sells paintings, and interest in the work of a brilliant creator increases along with the prices of works of art. In May 1919, the young parents returned to Paris. Modi is very weak, and seven months later he dies in a hospital for the homeless in absolute poverty. Upon learning of the death of her beloved, Jeanne, who is expecting her second child, is thrown from the sixth floor. Life without Amedeo seems meaningless to her, and Hebuterne dreams of joining him in order to enjoy eternal bliss in another world. The girl carried her love to the last breath, and in the most difficult moments it was she who was the only support for her beloved rebel and was his faithful guardian angel.

The whole of Paris saw off the artist on his last journey, and his beloved, whom the bohemian circle recognized as his wife, was modestly buried the next day. Ten years later, Jeanne's family agreed to transfer her ashes to the grave of Amedeo Modigliani, so that the souls of the lovers would finally find peace.

Daughter Jeanne, named after her mother, died in 1984. She devoted her life to studying the creativity of her parents.

Man is the whole world

The artist does not want to know anything except the person himself, whose personality is his only source of inspiration. He does not paint still lifes and landscapes, but turns to portraiture. Abstracted from the realities of life, the creator works day and night, for which he receives the nickname "lunatic". Living in his own world, he does not notice what is happening outside the window and does not follow how time passes. Not at all like the rest, Amedeo Modigliani, who admires the bodily beauty, sees people. The works of the master confirm this: on his canvases, all the characters are like the ancient gods. The artist declares that "man is a whole world that is worth many worlds."

On his canvases live not only heroes immersed in quiet sadness, but also their pronounced characters. The artist, who often pays with pencil sketches for food, allows his models to look into the eyes of the creator, as if into a camera lens. He paints familiar people, children on the streets, models, and he is not in the least interested in nature. It is in the portrait genre that the author develops an individual style of writing, his own canon of painting. And when he finds it, he no longer changes it.

Unique Talent

The Creator admires the naked female body and finds harmony between it and the quivering soul of the heroines. Graceful silhouettes, according to the researchers of his work, look like "fragments of a fresco, written not from certain models, but as if synthesized from other models." Amedeo Modigliani first of all sees in them his ideal of femininity, and his canvases live in space according to their own laws. The works glorifying the beauty of the human body become famous after the death of the master, and collectors from all over the world begin to hunt for his canvases, on which people have unthinkably elongated heads and long necks of an ideal shape.

According to art historians, such elongated faces appeared from African plastics.

Own vision of the heroes of the paintings

Amedeo Modigliani, whose works cannot be viewed briefly, pays close attention to characteristic faces that at first glance resemble a flat mask. The more you peer into the master's canvases, the more clearly you understand that all his models are individual.

Many portraits of a genius creating his own world are sculptural, it is clear that the master carefully works out the silhouette. In later works, the painter adds roundness to elongated faces, tints the cheeks of the heroines with pink. This is a typical move of a real sculptor.

Amedeo Modigliani, unrecognized during his lifetime, whose photographs of his paintings convey his unique talent, paints portraits that do not at all look like a reflection in a mirror. They convey the inner feelings of the master, who does not play with space. The author strongly stylizes nature, but he grasps something elusive. A talented master does not just copy the features of the models, he compares them with his inner instinct. The painter sees images covered with sadness and uses sophisticated stylization. Sculptural integrity is combined with the harmony of line and color, and the space is pressed into the plane of the canvas.

Amedeo Modigliani: works

The paintings, created without a single correction and impressing with the accuracy of forms, are dictated by nature. He sees his poet friend immersed in dreams ("Portrait of Zborovsky"), and his colleague - impulsive and open to all people ("Portrait of Soutine").

On the canvas "Alice" we see a girl with a face resembling an African mask. Adoring elongated forms, Modigliani draws an elongated silhouette, and it is clear that the proportions of the heroine are far from classical. The author conveys the inner state of the young creature, in whose eyes one can read detachment and coldness. It can be seen that the master sympathizes with the serious girl beyond her years, and the audience feels the warm attitude of the painter towards her. He often draws children and teenagers, and his characters are reminiscent of the works of Dostoevsky, which Amedeo Modigliani used to read.

Paintings with the names "Nude", "Portrait of a Girl", "Lady with a Black Tie", "Girl in Blue", "Yellow Sweater", "Little Peasant" are known not only in Italy, but also in other countries. They feel compassion for the person, and each image is fraught with a special secret and amazing beauty. Not a single canvas can be called soulless.

"Jeanne Hebuterne in a red shawl" is one of the last works of the author. The woman who is expecting her second child is depicted with great love. Modigliani, who idolizes his beloved, sympathizes with her desire to isolate herself from the unfriendly outside world, and the spirituality of the image in this work reaches unprecedented heights. Amedeo Modigliani, whose work is covered in the article, penetrates the very essence of human experiences, and his Jeanne, who seems defenseless and doomed, humbly accepts all the blows of fate.

The incredibly lonely genius, unfortunately, became famous only after his death, and his priceless works, which he often gave away to passers-by, gained worldwide fame.

(1884-1920) Italian painter, graphic artist and sculptor

In modern consciousness, the appearance of Amedeo Modigliani was largely formed under the influence of the brilliant performance of the French actor Gerard Philippe in the film "Montparnasse-19". He created the image of an unrecognized genius who died alone and in poverty. But this is only partly true: contemporaries recognized the talent of Amedeo Modigliani. However, at the beginning of the century there were many artists in Paris, and not all of them were able to assert themselves, become famous and rich. Nevertheless, the legend has been created, and it is very difficult to change the prevailing stereotype.

Biographical information about Amedeo Modigliani is contradictory and extremely scarce. So, according to one of the legends, it was assumed that the artist's mother came from the family of B. Spinoza. In fact, the famous philosopher died without issue.

As for the father, he was not the owner of the bank, as Modigliani's admirers said, but was only its founder. Therefore, the fact that a poor artist in Italy had rich relatives who did not support him in time also belongs to the realm of fiction.

In fact, both Amedeo Modigliani's father and mother came from Orthodox Jewish families. His ancestors settled in Livorno, where the mother of the future artist, Eugenia Garcin, married Flaminio Modigliani. They had four children - Emmanuele, a future lawyer and member of parliament, Margherita, who became the foster mother of the artist's daughter, Umberto, who became an engineer, and, finally, Amedeo. By the time of his birth, the family was on the verge of ruin, and only with the help of Modigliani's friends could they somehow get back on their feet. Amedeo Garcin, Eugenia's older brother, helped more than others. He further helped the future artist, who was named after his uncle.

Amedeo Modigliani studied well enough, but the school did not interest him at all. In 1898, he suffered a serious illness - typhus. Apparently, at this time, Modigliani realized that he could draw. Soon drawing captured him so much that he began to ask his mother to find him a teacher. At the age of twelve, Amedeo began studying in a studio run by Guglielmo Micheli, a supporter of post-impressionism. However, the formation of Amedeo Modigliani took place under the influence of many artists. His work was affected by the passion for domestic artists, primarily representatives of the Sienese and Florentine schools - Sandro Botticelli and Filippo Lissh.

At the end of 1900, Amedeo Modigliani fell ill again - typhus gave a complication to the lungs. On the advice of doctors, he went south and lived for two years in Naples. There he first began to paint sculpture and architecture. In the sketches of the sculptures of the Neapolitan cathedrals, the ovals of his future paintings are already visible.

In 1902, Amedeo Modigliani returned to Livorno, but soon left his homeland again. For several months he attended the Free School of the Nude in Florence. This educational institution was a branch of the Institute of Fine Arts in Venice. There, the famous graphic artist Fattori became his teacher. From him, Modigliani adopted an enduring love for the line, the simplicity of form while maintaining volume. Modigliani liked to paint nudes, admiring the fragility and grace of the female body. He creates mainly chamber portraits, avoiding the deliberate pretentiousness inherent, for example, in the paintings of Picasso. He also paid great attention to space, achieving deliberate asymmetry. At the same time, his works are distinguished by a special lyricism; when studying them, a feeling of fragility and unreliability of the outside world is born.

With the help of his uncle, banker Amedeo Garsena, Amedeo Modigliani travels to Venice several times. But gradually he begins to understand that he must definitely get to Paris, which was then considered an artistic Mecca. In 1906, Modigliani finally settled in Paris.

At first, he enrolled in the Colarossi Academy, but soon left it, because he could not come to terms with the framework of the academic tradition. Amedeo Modigliani rents a studio in Montmartre, where his first Parisian works appeared. But a year later, the artist moves from Montmartre. At that time, he has an admirer - Dr. Paul Alexander. Together with his brother, the doctor maintained a kind of shelter for poor artists. Modigliani settled there in the autumn of 1907. It was Alexander who became the buyer of the Jewess, for which he then paid only two hundred francs.

And a little later, he convinced Amedeo Modigliani to give his work to the exhibition of the Salon des Indépendants. At the end of 1907, five works by the Italian master were exhibited there. Familiar doctors snapped up these paintings. In autumn, Modigliani exhibits again at the Salon, but this time no one buys his work. Depression, complete loneliness, in which the artist found himself because of his "explosive" nature, addiction to alcohol caused the appearance of a kind of internal barrier that so interfered with him all subsequent years.

Amedeo Modigliani constantly communicated with his contemporaries - J. Braque, M. Vlaminck, Pablo Picasso. Fate will give him only fourteen years for creativity. During this time, an interesting artist will emerge from the young man, who will create his own unique way of depicting figures and human faces, where swan necks, elongated ovals, somewhat elongated torsos, almond-shaped eyes without pupils will dominate.

At the same time, all Modigliani's characters are easily recognizable, although what we have before us is the author's vision of his characters, close at the same time to decadent stylization and African sculpture.

The portraits of Amedeo Modigliani were written in part and under the influence of Cezanne, whose large exhibition he saw in 1907. From the passion for Cezanne, there are attempts to convey the subject through a special plastic space and a new palette of colors. But Modigliani, in this case, retains an extraordinary vision of the hero, almost always depicting a seated person, as, for example, in his painting “The Sitting Boy”.

Feeling sorry for the artist, some specially commissioned paintings for him to support him. But mostly he painted close people - M. Jacob, L. Zborowski, P. Picasso, D. Rivera. One cycle of portraits was inspired in 1914 by a meeting with the Russian poetess Anna Akhmatova. Unfortunately, only one drawing has survived from the entire cycle, the one that Akhmatova took with her. In it, the dominant space is the famous running line of Amedeo Modigliani.

Acquaintance with Akhmatova cannot be considered accidental. We should not forget that already in his youth, Modigliani went through the influence of the philosopher F. Nietzsche, as well as the poet and writer G. D "Annunzio. He knew perfectly well classical Italian and new French symbolist poetry, read F. Villon, Dante, Sh Baudelaire and Arthur Rimbaud At the beginning of the 20th century, a passion for the philosophy of A. Bergson will come.

The versatility of interests, passion for travel, the desire to constantly discover new things in communication with contemporaries led Modigliani to turn to different forms of art. Almost simultaneously with serious paintings, his sculptures appear.

Having chosen the path of a free artist for himself, Modigliani leads a bohemian lifestyle. He doesn't graduate from art schools, he just stays in them, tries hashish and transforms from a shy, unassuming youth into a cult figure. All those who knew Modigliani note his unusual appearance and penchant for extraordinary actions. At the same time, the addiction to alcohol and drugs can be explained by the fact that he sought to overcome internal uncertainty or simply succumbed to the influence of friends.

Amedeo Modigliani has a lot in common with Matisse - the laconicism of the line, the clarity of the silhouette, the generalization of the form. But Modigliani does not have Matissian monumentalism, his images are much more chamber, intimate (portraits of women, nudes), Modigliani's line has extraordinary beauty. The generalized drawing conveys the fragility and grace of the female body, the flexibility of the long neck, and the sharp characteristic of the male posture. You recognize the artist by a certain type of face: close-set eyes, a laconic line of a small mouth, a clear oval, but these repeated techniques of writing and drawing do not in the least destroy the individuality of each image.

At the end of his life, Amedeo Modigliani met the aspiring artist Jeanne Hebuterne, and they began to live together. As usual, Modigliani painted a portrait of a person who became close to him. But, unlike her former girlfriends, she became for him a ray of happiness and light. However, their relationship was short-lived. In the winter of 1920, Modigliani died quietly in the hospital. After the funeral, Jeanne returned to her parents. But there she found herself in complete isolation, since the Catholic family could not come to terms with the fact that her husband was a Jew. Despite the fact that at that time Zhanna was expecting their second child, she did not want to live without her lover and jumped out of the window. She was buried a few days later.

After the death of her parents, little Jeanne was raised by Modigliani's relatives, they kept some of his paintings and did not prevent the girl from getting involved in painting. When she grew up, she became a biographer of her father and created a book about him.

The creative heritage of Amedeo Modigliani has spread all over the world. True, many of the artist's works have not been preserved due to the author's nomadic lifestyle. Often, Modigliani paid with his paintings, gave them to friends or gave them for safekeeping. Some of them died as the First World War was going on. So, for example, a folder with drawings, left by the Russian writer I. Ehrenburg at the embassy of the Provisional Government in 1917, disappeared.

Amedeo Modigliani has become a kind of symbol of his difficult era. He was buried in the Pere Lachaise cemetery. On the grave there is a brief inscription - "Death overtook him on the threshold of glory."

The biography of Amedeo Modigliani (1884-1920) is like a novel about a classical genius.

Life is short as a flash. Early death. The deafening posthumous glory that overtook him literally on the day of the funeral.

The price of the paintings that the artist left as payment for lunch in a cafe overnight reaches tens of millions of dollars!

And also the love of a lifetime. A beautiful young girl who looks like Princess Rapunzel. And the tragedy is worse than the story of Romeo and Juliet.

If it wasn't all true, I would have snorted: “Oh, this does not happen in life! Too twisted. Too emotional. Too tragic."

But everything happens in life. And this is just about Modigliani.

Unique Modigliani

Amedeo Modigliani. Red-haired woman. 1917. Washington National Gallery.

Modigliani is mysterious to me like no other artist. For one simple reason. How did he manage to create almost all of his works in the same style, and so unique?

He worked in Paris, talked with Picasso,. I saw the work and. But he did not fall under anyone's influence.

It seems that he was born and lived on a desert island. And there he wrote all his works. Unless I saw African masks. Also, maybe a couple of works by Cezanne and El Greco. And the rest of his painting has almost no impurities.

If you look at the early works of any artist, you will understand that at first he was looking for himself. Modigliani's contemporaries often started with . How or . And even .

Left: Edvard Munch, Rue Lafayette, 1901. Oslo National Gallery, Norway. Right: Pablo Picasso, Bullfighting, 1901. Private collection. Bottom: Kazimir Malevich, Spring, apple tree in bloom, 1904. Tretyakov Gallery.

Sculpture and El Greco

In Modigliani, you will not find this period of searching for yourself. True, his painting changed a little after he had been sculpting for 5 years.

Amedeo Modigliani. Woman's head. 1911. Washington National Gallery.

Here are two works created before and after the sculptural period.

It is immediately evident how much Modigliani's sculpture transfers into painting. His famous elongation also appears. And a long neck. And deliberately sketchy.

He really wanted to continue sculpting. But since childhood, he had sick lungs: tuberculosis returned time after time. And stone and marble chips aggravated his illness.

Therefore, after 5 years, he returned to painting.

I would also venture to look for a link between the works of Modigliani and the works of El Greco. And it's not just about the elongation of faces and figures.

El Greco. Saint James. 1608-1614. Prado Museum, Madrid.

For El Greco, the body is a thin shell through which the human soul shines through.

Amedeo followed the same path. After all, the people in his portraits bear little resemblance to real ones. Rather, it conveys character, soul. Adding something that a person did not see in the mirror. For example, asymmetry of the face and body.

This can also be seen in Cezanne. He also often made the eyes of his characters different. Look at the portrait of his wife. We seem to read in her eyes: “What did you come up with again? You make me sit here with a stump ... "

Paul Cezanne. Madame Cezanne in a yellow chair. 1890. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Portraits of Modigliani

Modigliani painted people. Completely ignored still lifes. His landscapes are extremely rare.

Andrey Allahverdov. Amedeo Modigliani. 2015. Collection of the artist.

He has many portraits of friends and acquaintances from his entourage. They all lived, worked and played in the Montparnasse district of Paris. Here, impoverished artists rented the cheapest housing and went to the nearest cafes. Alcohol, hashish, festivities until the morning.

Amedeo especially took care of the unsociable and sensitive Chaim Soutine. A slovenly, reserved and very original artist: his whole essence is before us.

Eyes looking in different directions, crooked nose, different shoulders. And also the color scheme: brown-gray-blue. Table with very long legs. And a tiny glass.

In all this one reads loneliness, inability to live. Well, truthfully, without flattery.

Amedeo Modigliani. Portrait of Chaim Soutine. 1917. Washington National Gallery.

Amedeo wrote not only friends, but also unfamiliar people.

He does not have a predominance of one emotion. Like, to make fun of - so everyone. To be touched - so everyone.

Here, over this couple, he is clearly ironic. A gentleman in years marries a girl of humble birth. For her, this marriage is an opportunity to solve financial problems.

Amedeo Modigliani. Bride and groom. 1916. Museum of Modern Art, New York.

The fox slit of sly eyes and slightly vulgar earrings help to read her nature. And what about the groom, do you know?

Here he has a collar on one side raised, on the other - lowered. He does not want to think sensibly next to the bride full of youth.

But the artist infinitely regrets this girl. The combination of her open gaze, folded arms and slightly clumsy legs speaks to us of extreme naivety and defenselessness.

Well, how not to feel sorry for such a child!

Amedeo Modigliani. Girl in blue. 1918. Private collection.

As you can see, each portrait is a whole world of people. Reading their characters, we can even guess their fate. For example, the fate of Chaim Soutine.

Alas, although he will wait for recognition, but being already very sick. Failure to take care of himself will lead him to stomach ulcers and extreme emaciation.

And worries about Nazi persecution during the war will drive him to the grave.

But Amedeo will not know about this: he will die 20 years earlier than his friend.

Women of Modigliani

Modigliani was a very attractive man. An Italian of Jewish origin, he was charming and sociable. Women, of course, could not resist.

He had many. Including he is credited with a short affair with Anna Akhmatova.

She denied it for the rest of her life. Many of Amedeo's drawings presented to her with her image simply disappeared. Because they were in Nu style?

But some still survived. And according to them, we assume that these people had closeness.

But the main woman in Modigliani's life was Jeanne Hebuterne. She was madly in love with him. He also had tender feelings for her. So tender that he was ready to marry.

He also painted dozens of her portraits. And among them, not a single Nu.

I call her Princess Rapunzel because she had very long and thick hair. And as is usually the case with Modigliani, her portraits are not very similar to the real image. But her character is readable. Calm, reasonable, infinitely loving.

Left: Photograph by Jeanne Hebuterne. Right: Portrait of a girl (Jeanne Hebuterne) Modigliani, 1917.

Amedeo, although he was the soul of the company, behaved somewhat differently with loved ones. Drinking, hashish - that's half the battle. He could flare up when drunk.

Zhanna easily coped with this, calming her angry lover with her words and gestures.

And here is her last portrait. She is pregnant with her second child. Which, alas, was not destined to be born.

Amedeo Modigliani. Jeanne Hebuterne seated in front of the door. 1919.

Returning from a cafe drunk with friends, Modigliani unbuttoned his coat. And got a cold. His lungs, weakened by tuberculosis, could not stand it - he died the next day from meningitis.

And Jeanne was too young and in love. She didn't give herself time to recover from the loss. Unable to bear the eternal separation from Modigliani, she jumped out the window. Being in the ninth month of pregnancy.

Their first daughter was taken in by Sister Modigliani. Growing up, she became her father's biographer.

Nu Modigliani

Amedeo Modigliani. Unfolded Nude. 1917. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Most Nu Modigliani created in 1917-18. It was an order from an art dealer. Such works were bought well, especially after the death of the artist.

So most of them are still in private collections. I managed to find one in the Metropolitan Museum (New York).

See how the body of the model is cut off by the edges of the picture in the area of ​​​​the elbows and knees. So the artist brings her closer to the viewer. She enters his personal space. Yes, no wonder that such works are well bought.

In 1917, an art dealer put on an exhibition of these nudes. But an hour later it was closed, considering Modigliani's work indecent.

Amedeo Modigliani. Reclining Nude. 1917. Private collection.

What? And this is in 1918? When nudes were written by everyone and sundry?

Yes, we wrote a lot. But ideal and abstract women. And this means the presence of one important detail - smooth armpits without hair. Yes, that's what the cops were confused about.

So the lack of hair removal turned out to be the main sign of whether the model is a goddess or a real woman. Is it worthy to be shown to the public or should it be removed from sight.

Modigliani is unique even after death

Modigliani is the most copied artist in the world. For every original, there are 3 fakes! This is a unique situation.

How did it happen?

It's all about the life of an artist. He was very poor. And as I already wrote, he often paid with paintings for lunches in cafes. I did the same, you say.

But the latter kept a thorough correspondence with his brother. It was from the letters that a complete catalog of Van Gogh's originals was compiled.

But Modigliani did not record his work. And he became famous on the day of his funeral. Unscrupulous art dealers took advantage of this, and an avalanche of fakes flooded the market.

And there were several such waves, as soon as the prices of Modigliani's paintings jumped once again.

Unknown artist. Marie. Private collection (the painting was shown as a work by Modigliani at an exhibition in Genoa in 2017, during which it was recognized as a fake).

Until now, there is not a single reliable catalog of the works of this brilliant artist.

Therefore, the situation with the exhibition in Genoa (2017), when most of the master's works turned out to be fake, is far from the last.

We can only rely on our intuition when we look at his work at exhibitions ...

In contact with

Amedeo Modigliani- Italian painter, sculptor, who is a prominent representative of expressionism, the world-famous artist of the Parisian art school.

Amedeo grew up in Italy, where he studied ancient art and became interested in painting. He studied drawing at the Florentine and then at the Venetian Academy of Arts. Having moved to the capital of France in 1906, he fell under the influence of the works,. But as a result, he developed his own, unique style, the hallmark of which was a rich, dense color.

In the autumn of 1907, Amedeo Modigliani met the physician Paul Alexander, who became the young artist's first patron and collector of his paintings. In the same year, the first exhibition of paintings by the novice artist took place in the Autumn Salon. Beginning in 1908, his exhibitions were regularly held with the Salon des Indépendants.

Modigliani's talent as a painter was most fully revealed in the portrait genre. The artist never took orders for writing his portraits and depicted only people he knew well, as if recreating his own image of the model.

During his life in Paris, the artist constantly changed his address of residence. Many believe that eternal homelessness was a boon for him, setting the stage for creative ups and downs. For some time the artist lived in a shed-workshop, standing in the middle of a wasteland, completely overgrown with shrubs. Sometimes he even had to spend the night at the Saint-Lazare railway station in Paris.

In the spring of 1909, the painter moved to an atelier located in Montparnasse. A year later, he met the young Anna Akhmatova and was infatuated with her for more than a year. The impetus for the beginning of the development of Modigliani's sculptural creativity was his acquaintance with the sculptor. In 1911, Amedeo Modigliani exhibited the stone heads he created. In 1912, he exhibited 7 of his sculptures at the Autumn Salon. In 1913 he decided to return to painting.

At this time, the artist's chronic tuberculosis worsened, so he was not taken to the front in the First World War. For several years he lived in Paris, where he painted and periodically arranged exhibitions. In 1917, Amedeo met the young Jeanne Hebuterne, who became his main model. Some time later, young people began to live together. In 1918, they had to leave Paris, fleeing the war, and go to the south of France. In November 1918, Modigliani and Hebuterne had a daughter.

Two years later, the artist died of tuberculosis. The next day, Jeanne Heburtin, who was then in her last month of pregnancy, committed suicide.

Amedeo Modigliani is a representative of expressionism, an artist whose biography is comparable to a novel. The master's paintings inspire the public no less than a love story that made the painter an object of chanting in a creative environment. Modigliani had a unique authorial style and did not give up his vocation, despite the vicissitudes of fate. Fame came to the artist posthumously, and paintings today cost fabulous money.

Childhood and youth

Amedeo Modigliani was born in Livorno on July 12, 1884. His fate was partly a foregone conclusion. Amedeo's father is a famous Italian painter with Jewish roots. When the boy was a few years old, his father was overtaken by bankruptcy, and the mother took over the care of the upbringing and maintenance of the children. In the fourth, youngest, child, she doted on the soul. Amedeo's sickness added maternal care, and he responded to her affection, traditional for Jewish families.

Museu de Arte Contemporânea da Universidade de São Paulo

Eugenia Modigliani, nee Garcin, had an excellent education and instilled in children a craving for knowledge. She knew several foreign languages, and translations became an additional income for the family. Noticing her son's penchant for the fine arts, the mother at first did not betray this significance. But at the age of 11, Amedeo fell ill with typhus and, in delirium, spoke only about painting. Evgenia made the only right choice. When Modigliani Jr. turned 14, he was sent to study with local artist Guglielmo Micheli.

Becoming the youngest among the students of the mentor, Amedeo quickly decided on the subjects that interested him. Portraits became the main direction of his work. In 1900, Modigliani contracted tuberculosis. To restore health, the mother took her son to the island of Capri, and the lessons were temporarily suspended.

Traveling around Italy, the boy got acquainted with the works of outstanding painters. He traveled to Rome and Florence. Here the aspiring artist entered the school of painting, and a year later he moved to Venice, where he became a student of the Free School of the Nude.

Artist Amedeo Modigliani / Wikipedia

In 1906, with the help of his mother, Amedeo moved to Paris, which became the capital of the arts in those years. The public at that time was fond of cubism, so the works exhibited by Modigliani for sale were not in demand. Having settled in expensive apartments, the young man was soon forced to move out to a cheap rented apartment, where he painted paintings to order. In parallel, he took lessons at the Colarossi Academy of Painting.

The only source of income for Amedeo was the money sent by her mother. Often he had nothing to pay for accommodation, so he had to run away from rented apartments, leaving paintings as payment. But in the art world, he gradually won recognition, although this did not affect his financial condition.

Creation

In 1907, Amedeo Modigliani made his debut at the Autumn Salon in Paris. A year later, his work was exhibited at the Salon of Independents. During these years, the artist developed his own style. He made friends with, painted their portraits and created the paintings "Jewish", "Cellist" and others.

Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza

In 1909, acquaintance with Constantin Brancusi makes Amedeo pay attention to sculpture. In the absence of money for materials, Modigliani steals sandstone and wood from construction sites. He had to leave his passion for this area of ​​​​art because of sick lungs.

Modigliani's work is fraught with weaknesses that many artists are prone to. He loved hashish, and eventually became addicted to alcohol. Left in Paris in 1914, when men were called to the front of the First World War, the artist felt on the verge. The state of physical and mental health left much to be desired. Amedeo continued to write to order, but critics still did not want to see talent in him.

Modigliani's works bear the imprint of a unique author's style. The people he depicts seem to have a flat mask instead of a face, behind which individuality is hidden. To see it, it is worth stopping by the picture. In the late period of creativity, the master added roundness to elongated ovals of faces.

Museu de Arte de Sao Paulo , Statens Museum for Kunst

Working not with space, but with nature, Modigliani created sad, touching images and was fond of visualizing nudes, combining the harmony of color and line. The most famous works of the author in this direction were “Nude sitting on a sofa” and “Reclining nude with a blue pillow”.

The works "Portrait of Zborovsky", "Alice" were made in the same style. The author neglected the ratio of proportions for the sake of the inner mood of the character. The artist often depicted children and adolescents with melancholy sadness on their faces. Vivid examples of such works are "Portrait of a Girl", "Girl in Blue", "Little Peasant".

Norton Simon Museum

The inspiration for the master was brought by the feelings he experienced. He repeatedly depicted the main love of his life, Jeanne Hebuterne, on canvases. One of the last works of the painter was the painting "Jeanne Hebuterne in a red shawl." On it, the beloved of the master is depicted in anticipation of a second child. In the works dedicated to her, a high degree of sensuality, admiration for the model and love are conveyed.

Fortune smiled at Modigliani before dying. His work finally attracted the attention of critics, who began to call the author "an aspiring artist, budding". Amedeo Modigliani was 35 at the time.

Personal life

When considering Modigliani's self-portrait, it is difficult to say whether the author was good-looking. But the surviving photos confirm that it could not be otherwise. An attractive man enjoyed the attention of ladies, and his personal life was always shrouded in a romantic veil. Despite his poverty, Modigliani was incredibly clean and elegant. A refined artist with a sketchbook in his hands attracted the eyes of beauties, and his charm did not leave any heart calm. Independent and unrecognized, Modigliani attracted many.

Museum of Anna Akhmatova in the Fountain House

One of the high-profile novels, which society learned about much later than its completion, was an alliance with. The mutual attraction that arose between them was accompanied by the creation of portraits of the poetess, who arrived in Paris with her husband. Amedeo created several canvases inspired by the image of Anna, among them nude sketches, although Akhmatova denied that they were written from her. Most of the images of the poetess were lost when sent to Russia, but she lovingly kept one portrait for many years.

In 1914, Modigliani met the journalist Beatrice Hastings. All Parisian society witnessed their rapidly developing relationship. Jealousy, flirting, beatings and betrayals accompanied this novel. Beatrice tried to rid Amedeo of addictions, but they turned out to be stronger. After 2 years of crises and reconciliations, Hastings left Modigliani.

Wikipedia

1917 was a turning point for the artist. He met a young student, Jeanne Hebuterne. The painter's museum was 19 years old, and she became his most faithful friend. The feelings of the lovers were not disturbed by the protests of the girl's parents, who did not want their daughter to become the wife of a beggar artist leading a wild life.

A year after they met, the couple moved to Nice. The local climate was good for Amedeo's failing health, but the last stages of tuberculosis were untreatable. In the same year, the lovers had a daughter. Joyful father made Jeanne an offer to become his wife. During this period, the public became interested in the artist's work, and it seemed that this story would have a happy ending. In 1919 the couple returned to Paris, but the artist's days were numbered. He lived for 7 months and died in a hospital for the homeless.

Death

Poor health accompanied Modigliani all his life. He attributed it to poor health as a child, and later to the influence of alcohol. It was impossible to talk about tuberculosis - otherwise he would have to step back from society. The disease caused the death of the artist. On January 24, 1920, Amedeo Modigliani died of tuberculous meningitis.

At that moment, his beloved was expecting a second child. Not wanting to live without Modigliani, she said goodbye to life by throwing herself from the 6th floor. Modigliani's death shocked all of Paris. He was accompanied on his last journey by numerous friends.

Wikipedia

Jeanne was buried in a modest grave away from her named spouse. Only 10 years later, her relatives allowed her ashes to be transferred to Modigliani's grave, reuniting the lovers.

In addition to his daughter Jeanne, Amedeo Modigliani had no children. She devoted herself to studying her father's work. 2 years after the death of Amedeo, his work skyrocketed in price, and the master himself was already called great.

In 2004, inspired by the artist's biography, director Michael Davis made a biopic about Modigliani's life and work.

Paintings

• 1909 - "The Beggar of Livorno"
• 1914 - "Portrait of Diego Rivera"
• 1915 - "Portrait of Pablo Picasso"
• 1915 - "Antonia"
• 1916 - "Bride and Groom"
• 1917 - "Nude on a blue pillow"
• 1917 - "Red-haired woman"
• 1918 - "Alice"
• 1918 - "The Girl in Blue"
• 1919 - "The Singer from Nice"