This unrecognized genius died in terrible poverty, and now fortunes are being paid for his paintings at auctions. 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 a great creator who did nothing for show cannot be placed within the framework of one artistic movement.
Amedeo Modigliani: short biography
Italian painter and sculptor Amedeo Modigliani was born in the city of 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, the woman, who knows several languages well, earns money by translating. The youngest son Amedeo is a very beautiful and sickly child, and Eugenia Modigliani dotes on 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 school of local artist Micheli. The teenager, who by that time had received a comprehensive education, forgets about everything, all he does is draw for days, completely surrendering to his passion.
Acquaintance with 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, and Florence, became acquainted with the greatest masterpieces of world art and in his letters mentions that “beautiful images have haunted his imagination ever since.” Recognized Italian masters, including Botticelli, became the young painter’s teachers. Later, the artist, who dreams of devoting his life to art, will resurrect in his works the sophistication and lyricism of their images.
Two years later, the young man moved to Florence and entered a painting school, and later continued his studies in Venice, where, as researchers of the genius’s work believe, he became addicted to hashish. The young man develops an individual style of writing, which is radically different from existing artistic movements.
Bohemian life in Paris
A few years later, Amedeo Modigliani, having lost inspiration in Italy, thinks about 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”), has been enjoying the special spirit of the city. The handsome painter, who has no end to his fans, lacks money.
He wanders around the cheapest furnished rooms, drinks a lot and tries drugs. However, everyone notes that the artist, who is addicted to alcohol, has a special love for cleanliness, and washes his only shirt every day. No one could compete in terms of elegance with the irresistible Amedeo Modigliani. The artist’s photographs, 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 down the street with a sketchbook at the ready. And not one of them could resist the charm of the poor master.
Many people 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 is not misleading anyone.
Unrecognized genius
In France, Amedeo is looking for his own style, paints pictures, and with the money raised from their sales treats new friends in bars. During the three years spent in Paris, Modigliani did 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 becomes interested in working with stone. The young man doesn’t have enough money to buy wood or sandstone for future masterpieces, so he steals the necessary material from the city metro construction site at night. He later quits sculpting due to bad lungs.
Platonic romance with Akhmatova
A new period in the master’s work begins after meeting A. Akhmatova, who came to Paris with her husband N. Gumilev. Amedeo is fascinated by 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 fueled the energy of two creative people. Inspired by a new feeling, the 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 was left with one portrait, which she incredibly valued and considered her main wealth. Three surviving nude sketches of the poetess were recently found, although Akhmatova herself claimed that she never posed without clothes, and all Modi’s drawings are just his imagination.
New relationships
In 1914, the artist Amedeo Modigliani met the English traveler, poetess, and journalist B. Hastings, and the whole of Paris watched the stormy showdown between the two people. The emancipated muse of genius was a match for her beloved, and after fierce quarrels, insults, and scandals that shook the city, truces follow. An emotional painter is jealous of his girlfriend, beats her, suspecting her of flirting and cheating. He pulls her hair and even throws the woman out of the window. Beatrice is trying to rid her lover of addictions, but she is not succeeding. Tired of endless quarrels, the journalist leaves Modigliani two years later, who wrote his best works. They never saw each other again.
The main love of the painter's life
In 1917, the scandalous artist met 19-year-old student Zhanna, who became his favorite model, muse and most devoted friend. The lovers move in together, despite protests from the girl’s parents, who do not want to see a Jew leading a riotous lifestyle as their son-in-law. In 1918, the couple moved to Nice, where the comfortable climate had a beneficial effect on the master’s health, undermined by alcohol and drugs, but advanced tuberculosis could no longer be treated. In the fall, the happy Amedeo Modigliani and Jeanne Hebuterne become parents, and the loving painter invites his friend to register their marriage, but a rapidly developing illness ruins all plans.
At this time, the artist’s agent organizes exhibitions and sells paintings, and interest in the work of a brilliant creator increases along with prices for works of art. In May 1919, young parents returned to Paris. Modi is completely weak, and seven months later he dies in a hospital for the homeless in absolute poverty. Upon learning of the death of her beloved, Zhanna, who is expecting her second child, throws herself out of the sixth floor. Life without Amedeo seems meaningless to her, and Hebuterne dreams of joining him to enjoy eternal bliss in another world. The girl carried her love until her 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 artist was accompanied on his last journey by all of Paris, 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 Amedeo Modigliani's grave so that the souls of the lovers could finally find peace.
Daughter Zhanna, 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 portrait painting. Abstracted from the realities of life, the creator works day and night, for which he receives the nickname “sleepwalker.” Living in his own world, he does not notice what is happening outside the window and does not follow how time passes. Amedeo Modigliani, who admires the physical beauty, sees people completely differently from others. The master’s works confirm this: on his canvases all the characters are like ancient gods. The artist states that “a person is a whole world that is worth many worlds.”
On his canvases live not only heroes immersed in quiet sadness, but also their clearly expressed characters. An artist who often pays 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 at all interested in nature. It is in the portrait genre that the author develops an individual style of painting, his own canon of painting. And when he finds it, he doesn’t change it anymore.
Unique talent
The creator admires the naked female body and finds harmony between it and the tremulous soul of the heroines. The graceful silhouettes, according to researchers of his work, look like “fragments of a fresco, painted not from specific 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. 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, in which people have incredibly elongated heads and long, ideally shaped necks.
According to art historians, such elongated faces appeared from African sculpture.
Own vision of the heroes of the paintings
Amedeo Modigliani, whose works cannot be examined cursorily, pays close attention characteristic persons, at first glance resembling a flat mask. The more you look at the master’s paintings, 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 designs the silhouette. In more later works the painter adds roundness to elongated faces and tints the cheeks of the heroines with pink. This is a typical move of a real sculptor.
Unrecognized during his lifetime, Amedeo Modigliani, whose photographs of his paintings convey his unique talent, paints portraits that are not at all similar to the reflection in the mirror. They convey the inner sensations of a master who does not play with space. The author greatly stylizes nature, but he captures something elusive. A talented master does not just sketch the features of models, he compares them with his inner instinct. The painter sees images shrouded in sadness and uses sophisticated stylization. Sculptural integrity is combined with harmony of line and color, and space is pressed into the plane of the canvas.
Amedeo Modigliani: works
The paintings, created without a single correction and impressive in the precision of their forms, are dictated by nature. He sees his poet friend immersed in dreams (“Portrait of Zborovsky”), and his colleague as impulsive and open to all people (“Portrait of Soutine”).
On the canvas "Alice" we see a girl with a face reminiscent of an African mask. Modigliani, who adores elongated forms, draws an elongated silhouette, and it is clear that the heroine’s proportions are far from classical. The author conveys the inner state of the young creature, in whose eyes one can read detachment and coldness. It is clear that the master sympathizes with the serious girl beyond her years, and the audience feels the painter’s warm attitude towards her. He often paints children and teenagers, and his characters are reminiscent of the works of Dostoevsky, which Amedeo Modigliani was engrossed in.
Paintings with the titles “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. There is compassion for man in them, and each image conceals a special secret and amazing beauty. Not a single painting can be called soulless.
“Jeanne Hebuterne in a Red Shawl” is one of the author’s last works. 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 highlighted in the article, penetrates into the very essence of human experiences, and his Jeanne, seemingly 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.
He died in poverty so that his descendants could compete with their fortunes, trying to get paintings by the famous master into their collections. The name of Amedeo Modigliani is shrouded in legends and fraught with scandals. Noise and foam often accompany the fate of true geniuses. This is what happened with this great painter.
Genius since childhood
The famous Italian artist of Jewish origin Amedeo Modigliani was born in Livorno in 1884. His father declared himself bankrupt when his son was very young, and Amedeo's mother, Eugenia, took full care of the family.
"Boy in a Blue Shirt" 1919
The woman literally idolized her youngest son. He was sickly and therefore loved by his mother even more. Amedeo responded to Eugenia with reality and, as in most Jewish families, was too attached to his mother.
Eugenia Modigliani is trying to ensure that her beloved baby receives a comprehensive education. When Amedeo turned 14, she sent him to the school of the artist Micheli. The teenager literally goes crazy about painting and paints all day and night.
However, the health of young Modigliani is still weak, and in order to treat him, in 1900 Eugenia takes her son to Capri, visiting Rome, Venice, and Florence along the way. There the young artist gets acquainted with the paintings of the greatest Italian masters and even takes several lessons from Botticelli himself.
"Pink Blouse" 1919
Two years later, Amedeo begins to study the Florentine school of painting, and then takes lessons from Venetian masters.
Thus, learning from great examples, Modigliani began to develop his own technique.
Bohemian Paris
Having worked in Italy for several years, at some point Amedeo realizes that he does not have enough air. We need new soil, new space in order to grow and move forward. And he moves to France.
Modigliani arrives in Paris in 1906 with no money and only painting supplies. He wanders around cheap furnished apartments, drinks a lot, goes on carouses and, as they say, even tries drugs, which does not prevent him from strictly monitoring his appearance. Modigliani was always impeccably dressed, even if this meant he had to wash his shirt every night. It’s no wonder that women are crazy about the bohemian but poor artist.
Akhmatova and Modigliani
Acquaintance with the great Russian poetess Anna Akhmatova opened a new stage in Amedeo’s work. Akhmatova came to Paris with her husband Nikolai Gumilev. But this does not stop the artist. Amedeo begins to court Anna and literally idolizes her. She calls her the Egyptian queen and draws a lot.
"The Artist's Wife" 1918
True, only one portrait of the master has survived to this day, which Akhmatova considered her main wealth. Two more pencil drawings of a nude Akhmatova were found not so long ago.
The rest of Modigliani's paintings perished or disappeared after the revolution.
Modigliani and Hastings
After breaking up with Akhmatova, Modigliani fell into depression, from which a new relationship brought him out. Journalist and literary critic, traveler and poet Beatrice Hastings met the artist in 1914.
They both turned out to be so emotional and hot that the whole of Paris watched their whirlwind romance with curiosity. Quarrels, scenes of jealousy, jumping out of windows, fights and equally violent reconciliation. This love drained both of them.
"Jeanne Hebuterne in a Red Shawl" 1917
Beatrice tried to wean Amedeo from alcohol, but she was not successful. The scandals became more and more prolonged. And in the end, the woman decides to break off the relationship.
However, this period is considered the most fruitful in terms of creativity. Critics call the paintings painted under the inspiration of the muse Beatrice the best in Modigliani’s creative heritage.
Last love
An artist cannot live without love. A cold heart is incapable of creativity. And so, in 1917, he meets a student named Zhanna, whom he first makes his model, and then falls madly in love with her.
Jeanne's parents rebelled against such a relationship. A Jew leading a riotous lifestyle seems to them to be the worst match for their daughter that they can think of. However, the couple is happy. So that their happiness is not interfered with, they leave for Nice. There Zhanna finds out that she is pregnant. Modigliani invites her to legalize the relationship, but the sharply deteriorating state of health and worsening tuberculosis forces her to postpone these plans.
“Portrait of Jeanne Hebuterne” 1918
The birth of a daughter, who was named after Amedeo's beloved Jeanne, makes her forget about her problems for a while. However, not for long.
In 1919, Amedeo and Jeanne and their daughter returned to Paris. The artist was very bad. Tuberculosis is progressing. Amedeo ends up in a clinic for the poor.
At this time, his agent begins to slowly sell the master's paintings. Interest in the painting of Amedeo Modigliani began to awaken. However, the artist will no longer know about this.
He died in complete poverty in a homeless shelter, and his friend Zhanna, having learned about this, jumped out of the window out of grief. At this time, she was carrying her second child, Amedeo.
All of Paris took to the streets to see off the genius on his last journey. His girlfriend was modestly buried the next day, recognizing her rights as the wife of the deceased artist.
"Girl in a Black Apron" 1918
In the end, Jeanne’s parents also came to terms with their daughter’s fate, ten years later agreeing to rebury the girl’s ashes in Modigliani’s grave. So after death, the lovers were united with each other forever.
Well, their daughter grew up and devoted her whole life to studying the creativity of her parents.
The special world of Amedeo Modigliani
The world of Amedeo Modigliani is a man-universe. His heroes are almost gods. They are beautiful in their external, physical beauty. But this is a very unusual beauty. Sometimes it seems that the characters’ characters break out of their corporeal shell and begin to live their own separate lives, they are so vividly written.
"Oscar Meshchaninov" 1917
Modigliani paints passers-by, acquaintances, children. He is not interested in surroundings - people are important to him.
He often paid for food with these paintings. And ironically, years after their death, they were worth fortunes. During his lifetime, the genius was not understood, and Modigliani, in fact, always remained incredibly lonely, an unrecognized genius.
Unfortunately, this often happens to real creators: their fame only reaches them after death.
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Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine
Mariupol State University
Faculty of History
Subject: Amedeo Modigliani
Completed:
student Solieva M.
Teacher:
Mariupol2013
Introduction
1. Life and times
2. Creativity
3. Famous works
Conclusion
References
Introduction
At the beginning of 1906, among the young artists, writers, actors who lived in Montmartre in a kind of colony, in which everyone, one way or another, knew each other, a new figure appeared and immediately attracted attention. It was Amedeo Modigliani, who had just arrived from Italy and settled on Caulaincourt Street, in a small barn-workshop in the middle of a wasteland overgrown with bushes, which was called “poppies” and was just then being built up with new houses. He was twenty-two years old. He was dazzlingly handsome, but he obviously attracted people with something even more unusual. Many of those who met him for the first time remembered, first of all, the feverish brilliance of his large black eyes, staring straight at him, on his matte-swarthy face. The quiet voice seemed “hot,” the gait seemed flying, and the whole appearance seemed strong and harmonious.
The last of the bohemian Mohicans, Amedeo Modigliani, lived a completely bohemian life. Poverty, illness, alcohol, drugs, sleepless nights, promiscuous relationships were his constant companions. But this did not stop him from becoming the greatest innovative artist who created the unique “world of Modigliani.”1
We do not have Modigliani either in museums or in private collections (the few surviving drawings, of course, in no way fill this gap). In the early 20s, when there was a spontaneous and mostly speculative-looting “distribution” of his paintings on the world art market, our country lived so difficultly that it had no time to worry about acquiring the latest Western painting.2 Modigliani was represented here for the first time in 1928 at one of the exhibitions foreign art. After a long break, a few of his portraits appeared several more times at exhibitions of works from museum and private collections in the USA, France, and Japan.
It is characteristic that, despite such a wide variety of works on Modigliani, Western art criticism is increasingly expressing the opinion that his work still needs deeper study, that he is not yet fully understood and not assessed objectively enough. You really can’t help thinking about this when you get acquainted with his works and at the same time read at least all the best that has been written about him. It is difficult not to notice that even the most serious, professionally keen analysis of his work in the West is still limited primarily to problems of “pure form”. It is examined abstractly and scrupulously in order to establish either the traditionality or originality of the techniques of his craft. Considered as if in an airless space, in a forcibly closed sphere, these techniques of mastery are either compressed into a soulless protocol, reminiscent of a “case history,” or consistently give rise to unrestricted comparisons, sometimes more or less justified, sometimes arbitrary. Who doesn’t Modigliani become close to, whose influences aren’t imposed on him! Names and schools are attached to his work in such abundance that to someone he may already seem like either a universal imitator or an eclectic student - in any case, until, having passed through various “stages”, he develops, finally, at the behest of another researcher, his own inimitable and inimitable style. And in this kaleidoscope of “influences” and “convergences” it becomes difficult to determine those real sources and passions that really illuminated his path and helped him, while still very young, become himself in art. It is not clear why his art is forcibly deprived of social and philosophical content. They admire him, praise the beauty of his painting and the grace of his drawing, brushing aside his spiritual influence.
So, the purpose of this work is to trace the life and creative path of Amedeo Modigliani, and for this it is necessary:
outline the main stages of the artist’s short but eventful life;
highlight the work of Modigliani;
analyze the main works of the master.
Working with the literature on this topic, the author notes their limited number, but one can note the increased interest in Modigliani’s work over the last 10-20 years in domestic art criticism. The most famous Soviet study of the work of this master can be called the monograph by Vilenkin V.Ya. "Amedeo Modigliani". The author of the book introduces the reader in detail to the life and work, offers a deep, but perhaps not entirely objective analysis of the author’s works. Werner’s work “Amedeo Modigliani” is more objective, it also contains many interesting facts about the life of Modigliani, an analysis of the works, but more concise, but unlike Vilenkin’s work it contains large number color and black and white illustrations. The most complete collection of reproductions of Modigliani’s works, in our opinion, is contained in the book “The World of Masterpieces. 100 world names in art." In addition to reproductions, the book contains a large introductory article with a detailed biography of Amedeo Modigliani and a brief analysis of his works.
1. Life and times
Amedeo Modigliani was born on July 12, 1884 in Livorno, on the west coast of Italy. His parents came from prosperous Jewish families (one of the future artist’s grandfathers was at one time a prosperous banker). But the world greeted the newborn child unkindly - in the year Amedeo was born, his father, Flaminio, went bankrupt, and the family found itself on the verge of poverty. In this situation, the mother of the future artist, Evgenia, who had an indestructible character, became the true head of the family. She got very good education, tried her hand at literature, worked part-time as translations and taught children English and French.
Amedeo was the youngest and most beautiful of Modigliani's four children. His mother also doted on him because the boy grew up weak. In 1895 he was seriously ill with pleurisy. By family legend, Amedeo began painting only after he was seriously ill with typhoid fever in 1898. The mother said that some unusually picturesque, terrible wandering happened to her son, during which Amedeo described pictures that he had never seen before, and that supposedly it was during his illness that his passion for drawing was discovered. Around this time, Amedeo became seriously interested in drawing. He was completely indifferent to schoolwork and already at the age of fourteen he entered the workshop of the local artist and sculptor G. Micheli as a student.
“Dedo (that was the boy’s name in the family) has completely abandoned all his affairs,” his mother wrote in her diary, “and does nothing but draw... He draws all day long, amazing and confusing me with his passion. His teacher is very pleased with him. He says that Dedo draws very well for a student who has studied painting for only three months.”
In 1900, when Amedeo again fell ill with pleurisy, foci of tuberculosis were discovered in his left lung, which later became one of the reasons for the artist’s early death. The mother took her son to improve his health on the island of Capri. On the way back, the teenager visited Rome, Florence and Venice. From this trip, letters sent by him to a friend have been preserved - with ardent declarations of love for art and with mention of beautiful images that “disturb the imagination.” However, there was something else about them. In one of his letters from Capri, a young traveler talks about “a walk on a moonlit night with a Norwegian girl, very attractive in appearance.”
In 1902, Modigliani went to Florence, where he entered the painting school. Having moved to Venice in March 1903, he continued his studies at the local Academy. Very few drawings and letters from the artist dating back to this period have reached us. Venice was colorful national composition a city with rich cultural traditions. But Modigliani, like all young artists of his generation, was attracted to Paris. In January 1906, the 21-year-old artist set foot on the promised land of Paris. His beloved uncle, Amedeo Garcin, who had helped him before, had died a year earlier, and now Modigliani received only a modest “scholarship” from his mother.
His wanderings began in cheap furnished rooms - first in Montmartre, and from 1909 - in Montparnasse, in the artists' quarter. Amedeo had an excellent command of French and therefore easily made Parisian friends, with whom he enjoyed the delights of metropolitan life, not avoiding bars and brothels (ill. 1).
In November 1907, Modigliani met a young doctor and art lover, Paul Alexandre, the first collector of his works. Only the World War separated them (Dr. Alexander was then mobilized to work in a military hospital). It was Alexander who in 1909 brought Modigliani together with the outstanding Romanian sculptor Constantin Brancusi. Under the influence of Brancusi, Amedeo became interested in sculpture, abandoning painting for several years (ill. 2,3). However, the dust has such a harmful effect on his weak chest that he is temporarily forced to abandon his beloved sculpture. For some time he even visited the Academy of Colarossi, and we owe this visit to perhaps his very last drawings of nude models, executed in an academic manner. Then the search for something new begins.
In addition, he is trying to resolve the two main tasks facing him: the first is to make money, and the second is what he wrote about from Rome - “to come to your own truth about life, beauty and art,” that is, to find your topic and find your own language. He never completed the first task until the end of his life. His youthfully romantic phrase that “the philistines will never understand us” here, alas, acquired its crude concreteness. Not a single Parisian tradesman agreed to buy paintings for anyone famous painter- it's too risky an investment.
Bohemian life made itself felt. The artist's health deteriorated. In 1909 and 1912, Modigliani went to his relatives in Italy to improve his health, but, returning to Paris, he again preferred to live as before. Modigliani drank heavily and often; when drunk he became unbearable. In a “foggy” state, he could insult a woman, get involved in a scandal, start a fight, even be naked in public. At the same time, almost everyone who knew him well notes that the sober artist was an ordinary person, no different from most people of that time.
Before the First World War, Modigliani settled in the famous “Beehive”, or otherwise “Rotunda”, without mentioning which not a single story about the life of the legendary Montparnasse artists could do. An awkward, strange structure, which was a wine pavilion at the World Exhibition of 1900, was dragged by some eccentric benefactor to land he bought on the cheap almost on the outskirts of Paris and in it he set up a hostel for homeless and hopeless poor artists. Many celebrities have seen his dirty little workshops, more like coffins with shelves over the doors instead of beds. Fernand Leger, Marc Chagall lived here, French poet Blaise Cendrars, and even our Lunacharsky visited Modigliani at one time. Modigliani owes this eerie “Hive” his acquaintance with a man whom he dearly loved and considered one of the greatest artists of his time. This is Chaim Soutine, a small-town Jew who escaped from provincial Smilovichi, where his fellow believers unanimously beat him for his paintings, and by some miracle flew to brilliant Paris. Soutine turned out to be an original artist with a great future. Modigliani painted two portraits of him, one of which, where Soutine has the open, perky face of a roguish guy, is very beautiful in painting.
With the outbreak of the First World War, Modigliani's life became even darker. Many of his friends were drafted into the army, and loneliness set in. In addition, prices soared; stone and marble became an unaffordable luxury, and Modigliani had to forget about sculpture. Soon he met the writer Beatrice Hastings. The acquaintance grew into a whirlwind romance that lasted two years. The kind of relationship between the lovers can be judged by the fact that once Modigliani admitted that he threw Beatrice out of the window, and another time, blushing with shame, he told Jacques Lipchitz that Beatrice beat him with a rag.
It was during the war years that Modigliani managed to achieve some success. In 1914, Paul Guillaume began buying the artist’s works. In 1916, this “art dealer” was replaced by a native of Poland, Leopold Zborowski. In December 1917, Zborovsky agreed with the owner of the art gallery Bertha Weil to organize a personal exhibition of Modigliani (this was his only “staff” during his lifetime). It seemed that the wall of non-recognition was about to collapse. However, the idea of an exhibition turned into a farce. The gallery was located just opposite the police station, and when a small crowd gathered near the window of the gallery with Modigliani’s nudes exhibited in it to attract the public, one of the policemen decided to see what was happening there. Half an hour later, Madame Weil was ordered to remove the “abomination” from the window, and the exhibition had to be curtailed before its official opening.
A few months before the ill-fated exhibition, Modigliani met 19-year-old student Jeanne Hebuterne (ill. 4). The girl fell in love with the artist and remained with him until his death. However, his behavior did not improve from this. Modigliani was terribly rude to Jeanne. The poet André Salmon described one of Modigliani's many public scandals this way: “He dragged her (Jeanne) by the hand. He grabbed her by the hair, pulled it forcefully and behaved like a madman, like a savage.”
In March 1918, Zborovsky moved to the south of France, away from the capital, mired in the bustle of war. He invited several artists to keep himself company - Modigliani was among them. So he ended up in Cannes, and then in Nice, where in November 1918 Jeanne’s daughter was born (also Jeanne). At the end of 1919, Modigliani (ill. 5) returned to Paris with both Jeannes, and a few months later he fell ill with tuberculous meningitis.
On July 12, 1920, he died. The tragic postscript to Modigliani's life was the suicide of Jeanne Hebuterne. The morning after the funeral, she, eight months pregnant, jumped out of the window.
At the end of his biography it is customary to put a bold point: Modigliani finally found himself and expressed himself to the end. And he burned out in mid-sentence, his creative flight was cut short catastrophically, he, too, turned out to be one of those who “didn’t live up to theirs in the world, didn’t love theirs on earth” and, most importantly, didn’t accomplish anything. Even on the basis of what he did undeniably perfectly in this one and only “period” of his, which continues to live for us even today - who can say where, in what new and, perhaps, completely unexpected directions, in what unknown depths Would this passionate talent, yearning for some final, all-exhaustive truth, rush? There is only one thing we can be sure of - that he would not have stopped at what he had already achieved.1
2. Creativity
In 1898-1900, Amedeo Modigliani worked in the workshop of Guglielmo Micheli, and therefore we can say that the initial stage of his work took place under the sign of Italian art of the 19th century century. Since this century in a country with a glorious artistic past is not rich in outstanding achievements, many tend to underestimate the masters of this time and their creations. Meanwhile, they are an indisputable source of inspiration for the aspiring artist, and this fact cannot be refuted by the fact that few of Modigliani’s early works, completed before moving to Paris, have reached us. Perhaps unknown works of Modigliani from 1898-1906 will still be discovered in Livorno, Florence or Venice, which will help shed light on the initial stage of the artist’s creative biography. In addition, we can rely on some reviews of Modigliani's early work. And in general it’s hard to imagine that he passed by contemporary art his home country: It is obvious that the art of Italy of the 19th century made no less an impression on the young Modigliani than the works of the Renaissance, and Boldini is just as felt in Modigliani’s early Parisian works, as is Toulouse-Lautrec.
During his stay in Rome in 1901, Modigliani admired the painting of Domenico Morelli (1826-1901) and his school. Sentimental paintings by Morelli on biblical themes, his historical paintings and canvases based on scenes from the works of Tasso, Shakespeare and Byron are now completely forgotten. A bold step, leading far ahead of Morelli, was made by a group of very young artists “macchiaioli” (from macchia - a colorful spot). This school, young innovators, was united by their rejection of the bourgeois tastes that prevailed in art, the apologists of which were academic genre artists. In terms of their themes, the artists of the Macchiaioli group were close to the Impressionists: they also loved to depict peasant houses, rural roads, sunlit land and sun reflections on the water, but they were not distinguished by the bold artistic decisions inherent in Monet’s followers.
Apparently, during his apprenticeship Modigliani was for some time a supporter artistic principles"macchiaioli". Micheli, his teacher, was himself a favorite student of one of the founders of this school, Giovanni Fattori (1828-1905) from Livorno. Micheli was a fairly famous landscape painter, and he gained popularity among local art lovers for his seascapes, filled with a feeling of freshness and light.
Modigliani worked as furiously as he lived. Alcohol and hashish never dampened his insatiable desire to work. There must have been periods when, due to the lack of widespread recognition, he fell into despair and gave up. Once, responding to a friend who reproached him for idleness, he said: “I create at least three pictures a day in my head. What’s the point of ruining a canvas if no one will buy it anyway?” On the other hand, Arthur Pfannstiel, author of Modigliani and His Work, reports that the young artist sketched continuously, feverishly filling his blue-covered notebooks with drawings, up to a hundred a day.
It should be remembered that during this period Modigliani still dreamed of becoming a sculptor and spent a significant part, if not the lion's share, of his efforts on sculpture. A man with a critical mind, he periodically destroyed those things that seemed to him unsuccessful. But he also lost many jobs during hasty moves from one place to another, almost always secretly and without paying the owner for rented premises. Furious homeowners destroyed the "crazy" paintings he left them in lieu of payment; The owners of the bistro, with whom he exchanged his works for drinks more often than for food, did not value his works too much. He thoughtlessly gave away many works to his numerous random girlfriends who did not take care of them. Modigliani never kept records of his works.
It is noteworthy that the young painter was so little influenced by Fauvism and Cubism. The Fauves put color as the basis for everything, but for Modigliani the main thing is line. At first he complained that his “damned Italian eyes” could not get used to the special Parisian lighting. His palette was not very varied, and only once or twice did he resort to coloristic experimentation in the spirit of the Neo-Impressionists or Fauves. As a rule, he enclosed large surfaces of even color within thin but clearly drawn linear contours. Cubism, with its tendency towards dehumanization, was too rational for Modigliani, who was looking for the opportunity to express strong emotions in his work.
If Modigliani's early paintings, despite their excellent technical skill and occasional glimpses of original charm and lyricism, are not yet truly outstanding works, then his drawings of 1906-1909 already anticipate the mature master of 1915-1920.
He spent the summer of 1909 with his family in Livorno and painted a number of paintings there, among which was a canvas called “The Beggar.” This canvas, as well as two versions of The Cellist, were among the six pieces he exhibited at the Salon des Indépendants in 1910. By this time, he had already been recognized by many critics, poets and fellow artists, however, except for his devoted Doctor Paul Alexandre, no one wanted to buy his works. He moved from place to place because he never had money for a decent workshop. At one time he lived in the so-called “Beehive” - a strange, dilapidated house on Danzig Street where Chagall, Kisling, Soutine and many other foreign artists also rented tiny studios.
In 1909-1915 he considered himself a sculptor and worked very little in oils. During this period, Modigliani made many interesting and necessary contacts. In 1913, he met Chaim Soutine, a rough immigrant from Lithuania, and subsequently, as a close friend, tried to teach him good manners. Soutine was ten years younger, and his exuberant painting with characteristic “explosions” of impasto strokes could hardly have pleased a friend from Italy. In 1914, Max Jacob introduced Modigliani to Paul Guillaume, the first marchand who managed to awaken clients' interest in the artist's work. But Modigliani had a much closer relationship with another Marchand, Leopold Zborowski, whom he met in 1916. A significant part of the works created by the artist in the last three to four years appeared thanks to the support of Zborovsky and his wife. Zborovsky was an unusual phenomenon among the marchants of that time: he felt a fanatical affection for his ward, despite all the artist’s shortcomings - above all, recklessness and hot temper - which would have alienated a less devoted person.
In December 1917, Modigliani's only real solo exhibition took place, organized by Zborowski at the Bertha Weil Gallery. Instead of the expected success, a noisy scandal broke out. A crowd gathered in front of a window displaying a painting of a nude. The police insisted that this canvas and four other nudes be removed from the exhibition. Not a single painting was sold.
In May 1919, Modigliani returned to Paris, and Jeanne arrived there a little later. The first signs of success appeared. Newspapers began to write about the artist. Several of his canvases were presented at an exhibition of French art in London. His works began to be in demand among buyers. Modigliani finally had a reason to perk up - if not for a new deterioration in his health. Modigliani managed to simultaneously establish himself as both a realist and a non-subject matterist. This inspired eclecticist - an aristocrat, a socialist and a sensualist in one person - uses techniques from both the masters of the Ivory Coast (whose statues amaze the imagination without evoking a sense of ownership), and the icon painters of Byzantium and Early Renaissance(which touch us, but cannot shake us to the core). From all this comes the reverent, exciting - in a word, unique - Modigliani!
3. Famous works
Amedeo Modigliani creativity artist
Modigliani's amazing style was especially evident in his nudes and portraits. It was these works, first of all, that propelled him to a leading position in the art of the twentieth century.
Modigliani's creative path turned out to be tragically short. He was given very little time - most of his best works occurred in the last five years of his life. This explains both the relatively modest size of his legacy and some narrowness in the choice of topics - by and large, Modigliani worked in only two genres (nude and portrait). Nevertheless, even in an era so generous with talents, such as the beginning of the last century, he managed not to get lost in the general “artistic” mass and declared himself as one of the most original and poetic modern painters. And the style he created still haunts many artists, provoking them (often unconsciously) to imitate and repeat.
Modigliani's elongated forms have always aroused great interest. Their origins have been variously explained by critics. Some of these explanations are quite anecdotal - for example, relatively speaking, "alcohol." It was argued that the elongated forms were the result of the artist’s alcoholic addictions, looking at women through the bottom of a glass or the curved neck of a bottle. Meanwhile, similar forms are found in the Renaissance masters, whom Modigliani admired, and on his favorite African masks. His artistic interests were not limited to African masks. He was also attracted to art Ancient Egypt, occupied by statues of the islands of Oceania and much more. However, there was no talk of direct borrowing here; if ancient sculptures had an influence on Modigliani’s style, it was only indirect. Modigliani accepted only what corresponded to his own searches.
In his “sculptural” fifth anniversary, the artist painted only about two dozen paintings, while the total number of his surviving paintings is close to 350. Later he abandoned the sculpture. Perhaps sculpture classes simply became too much for him. Stone carving is hard physical labor, and the flying stone dust was contraindicated by the artist’s lungs, which were damaged by tuberculosis. Be that as it may, the sculptural works created by the author are an integral part of Amedeo’s work. All existing Modigliani sculptures were created between 1909 and 1914. These are 23 stone heads and two figures ( standing woman and caryatid). Modigliani made sketches of the caryatids many times, intending to create a whole series of heads and figures for the temple of beauty he had planned. This plan was not destined to come true. True, he showed seven goals (also a kind of series) at the Autumn Salon in 1912. The artist’s friend, the famous sculptor Jacob Epstein, noted in his autobiography that at night Modigliani lit candles mounted on stone heads and illuminated the workshop with them, trying to “imitate the lighting of an ancient pagan temple.
Modigliani was a self-taught sculptor, so his early sculptures look rough (and even clumsy). But, working intensively, he soon found his own style, both elegant and powerful. Stone heads Modigliani has an attractive, almost magnetic force. One can imagine how majestic the artist’s Temple of Beauty could have been.
The viewer most often associates Modigliani's work with his nudes. Modigliani was always interested in the nude, but he only turned to this topic seriously in 1916. The magnificent nudes painted by the artist in the last three or four years of his life are very different from everything he created earlier. The female images of the late Modigliani became more sensual and spontaneous, losing their former sadness and contemplation. Working in this genre, the artist rarely resorted to the help of his girlfriends or mistresses - the exceptions are one nude with Beatrice Hastings as a model and several similar things for which Jeanne Hebuterne posed. Typically, the artist's models were paid models or casual acquaintances. Modigliani preferred reclining nudes (although this was not an exclusive pose for him). He always depicted the female body large, juicy, with arms thrown behind the head or legs bent.
At the time of Modigliani, the female nude had not yet become a common place in painting. She was worried, even shocked. The image of pubic hair was considered especially obscene. But creating an erotic atmosphere was not Modigliani's goal in itself; this, of course, is present in his canvases, but, in addition, they are elegant in composition and refined in color. They are, first of all, works of art. Examples include the following works: “Nude on a White Cushion” (1917-1918), “Seated Nude” (ill. 6) undated and “Young Seated Woman” (1918). An excellent example of the genre, combining purity and grace of line, simplicity of composition, expression and deep eroticism - “Seated Nude” (1916). This is one of Modigliani's first nudes from his mature period. In his book (1984), dedicated to creativity artist, Douglas Heasle calls this painting “perhaps the most beautiful of Modigliani’s nudes.”1 The woman's face is stylized, but one can find similarities with Beatrice Hastings. At the time of the creation of the canvas, they were still living together. However, it is unlikely that Beatrice posed for the artist; Most likely, Modigliani, as usual, invited a professional model for this. But as he worked, Beatrice certainly stood before his eyes. The elongated, sculpture-like face of the woman depicted is reminiscent of the African masks that Modigliani so admired, and the tilt of her head and lowered eyelashes echo the paintings usually exhibited at the Salon. Nevertheless, this work by Modigliani is completely original and is rightfully considered one of the pearls in the series of nudes, which later made the artist famous.
“Reclining Nude” (1917-1918), Modigliani’s work is most often associated with the viewer’s nude, and this masterpiece is an excellent example of the genre, combining purity and grace of line, simplicity of composition, expression and deep eroticism.
Modigliani was an outstanding draftsman, so the main charm of the image is given by the line that gently describes the contours of the woman’s body, her neck and the oval of her face. The smooth contours of the figure are emphasized by the elegant background of the picture, gracefully chosen in tone. The pose and facial features of the model are very intimate, but at the same time deliberately stylized, which is why the image loses its individuality and becomes collective. The arms and legs of the heroine of this work, cut off by the edge of the canvas, visually bring her closer to the viewer, further enhancing the erotic sound of the picture.
In addition to nudes, portraits by Modigliani are widely known. He said: “Man is what interests me. Human face - supreme creation nature. For me this is an inexhaustible source.”1 Most often Modigliani was posed by his close friends, thanks to which many of the artist’s paintings look like an interesting gallery of representatives of the artistic world of that time, in whose images the “golden age” of Parisian art was imprinted. Modigliani left us portraits of artists Diego Rivera, Juan Gris, Pablo Picasso and Chaim Soutine, sculptors Henri Laurens and Jacques Lipchitz, writers Guillaume Apollinaire and Max Jacob. The only self-portrait of Modigliani (Fig. 7), painted by him in 1919, a few months before his death, has also reached us.
The nudes and portraits painted by the artist at the end of his life mark an important milestone in the history of modern painting. Although latest portraits Modigliani bear traces of emotional decline (which is not surprising, if you do not forget about how he lived at that time), they, however, retain the transparency and majesty inherent in the masters of the Renaissance.
But this did not bring Modigliani fame during his lifetime. He was known only to a narrow circle of artists - people like him, selflessly in love with art. And this, as a rule, does not bring money during your lifetime. Yes, Modigliani (like many of his friends) did receive unconditional recognition, but this happened after his death. His paintings, which he traded for bread and wine, are now paid staggering amounts of money; in art galleries they occupy the most honorable places, and hundreds of books have been written about the artist himself. An ordinary story.
Conclusion
Modigliani's pictorial style, with its decorative flatness, sharp laconic composition, musicality of silhouette-linear rhythms, and rich color, was determined in the early 1910s. In his, as a rule, single-figure paintings - portraits and nudes - Modigliani created a special world of images, intimately individual and, at the same time, similar in their general melancholic self-absorption; their unique, subtly nuanced psychologism and enlightened poetry are combined with a constant, sometimes tragic sense of human insecurity in the world.
Modigliani managed to simultaneously establish himself as both a realist and a non-subject matterist. His art meets the demands of the purists, who insisted that a painting is only a plane onto which paints are applied in a certain order; but at the same time he put rich human, sexual and social content into his canvases. He reveals and hides, selects and brings, seduces and soothes. This inspired eclecticist - aristocrat, socialist and sensualist in one person - uses the techniques of both the masters of the Ivory Coast (whose statues amaze the imagination without evoking a sense of belonging) and the icon painters of Byzantium and the Early Renaissance (who touch us, but cannot shake us to the core ). From all this comes the reverent, exciting - in a word, unique - Modigliani!
What remains of Modigliani seven decades after his death? Firstly, of course, the creative heritage, which is still subject to detailed research, and secondly, the legend, which has become the property of millions.
The legend arose from the memories of people who knew the artist during his tragic life in Paris, and even more from books, which were based on some amazing, but not always reliable information from second or even third hands. Several mediocre novels and a movie are devoted to the adventures of Modigliani.1
Alcohol and drugs may have been necessary for a physically weak, unsuccessful and lonely foreigner in Paris, suffering from uncertainty and bitter disappointments, but they in no way created or released his genius. Modigliani was almost always desperately poor, and more even because of his “terrible character”, which repelled possible patrons, than because of the complete indifference towards him on the part of collectors. Debunking the “romantic legend of death from hunger, alcohol and, God knows what metaphysical torment”2, the artist’s daughter Jeanne Modigliani blames everything, first of all, on tuberculosis, with which he was ill throughout his life.
No matter how obnoxious and irresponsible the artist may have seemed at times, basically he was - and all his friends are unanimous in this - a man of aristocratic behavior, a brilliant mind, widely educated, capable of good feelings and compassion. Given the limited duration - thirteen years - his creative activity and all life circumstances, his achievements are amazing not only in quantitative, but also in qualitative terms. In the book Modigliani and His Work (1956), Arthur Pfannstiel lists and describes 372 paintings by the artist created after his arrival in Paris in 1906. In the preface to the album “Amedeo Modigliani. Drawings and Sculpture (1965) Ambrogio Ceroni claims that the number of genuine Modigliani paintings is 222, which indicates a very strict approach to their assessment. Several early paintings by Modigliani have been discovered in recent years, and not so long ago a number of very convincing canvases from the Parisian period were put up for sale, not mentioned by either Pfannstiel or Ceroni.3 Unfortunately, the market is flooded with fakes of Modigliani, and some of them are made with such skill that they can mislead both the specialist and the collector. It is not surprising that the masters of falsification have intensified their activities so much - the price for first-class Modigliani works has risen to one hundred thousand dollars. As a result, many “Modigliani” appeared, which try to reduce the original techniques developed by the master to trivial formulas.
We will never know how many works did not reach us - how many were destroyed by the artist himself, and how many were lost.
References
Werner Alfred. Amedeo Modigliani (trans. Fateeva). - St. Petersburg: ICAR, 1994. - 126 p., ill.
Vilenkin V.Ya. Amedeo Modigliani. - 2nd ed., rev. and additional - M.: Art, 1989. - 175 p., l. ill. - (Life in art).
European painting XIII - XX centuries. Encyclopedic Dictionary. - M.: Art, 1999. - 526 p., ill.
Modigliani. - M.: Publishing Center "Classics", 2001. - 64 p., ill. "The world of masterpieces. 100 world names in art."
Art gallery: Modigliani. -No. 26. - M., 2005. - 31 p.
Encyclopedia of World Painting / Comp. T.G. Petrovets, Yu.V. Sadomnikova. - M.: OLMA - PRESS, 2000. - 431 p.: ill.
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Amadeo Modigliani (1884-1920)
"Happiness is an angel with a sad face"
Amadeo Modigliani.
France. The old cemetery of Père Lachaise is one of the most poetic cemeteries in the world. Great writers, philosophers, artists, artists, scientists, and heroes of the French Resistance are buried here. Marble and granite. Almost everywhere they are enlivened by flowers, skillfully selected colors.
But there is a large area in this cemetery where everything looks completely different, monotonous and prosaic. In previous years, the poor of Paris were buried here. Countless rows of low stone boxes, slightly raised in the middle by the longitudinal edge of the lid; a dull, squat, faceless town.
On one of the tombstones there is an inscription carved:
Amedeo Modigliani,
artist.
Born in Livorno on July 12, 1884.
Died in Paris on January 24, 1920.
Death overtook him on the threshold of glory.
And a little lower on the same board:
Jeanne Hebuterne.
Born in Paris on April 6, 1898.
She died in Paris on January 25, 1920.
Faithful companion of Amedeo Modigliani,
not wanting to survive separation from him.
Amadeo Modigliani
Amadeo Modigliani belonged to the “Paris School”. Paris School (French: Ecole de Paris), the conventional name of the international circle of artists that formed mainly in the 1910-20s. in Paris. In a narrow sense, the term “Paris School” refers to a group of artists who came from different countries(A. Modigliani from Italy, M. Chagall from Russia, Soutine from Lithuania, M. Kisling from Poland, etc.).
The term “Paris School” defines a group of artists of foreign origin who came to the capital of France at the beginning of the 20th century in search of favorable conditions for the development of their talent.
The direction in which Modigliani worked is traditionally referred to as expressionism. However, this issue is not so simple. It is not for nothing that Amedeo is called an artist of the Parisian school - during his stay in Paris he was influenced by various masters of fine art: Toulouse-Lautrec, Cezanne, Picasso, Renoir. His work contains echoes of primitivism and abstraction.
Expressionism in the works of Modigliani.
Actually, expressionism in Modigliani’s work is manifested in the expressive sensuality of his paintings, in their great emotionality.
Modigliani's works combine purity and sophistication of style, symbolism and humanism, a pagan sense of completeness and unbridled joy of life and a pathetic experience of the torments of an always restless conscience.
“Man is what interests me. The human face is the highest creation of nature. For me it is an inexhaustible source. Man is a world that is sometimes worth any worlds...”(Amadeo Modigliani)
He creates a huge series women's portraits, constantly varying the same, new type of face, characteristic features which are repeated in sculptural portraits and caryatids: from immediately recognizable to endless transformations.
The faces in many of the drawings are impersonal; some features are only conventionally outlined in them. He pays main attention to the pose, trying to find the most expressive and precise line of the intended movement.
In the same way he made drawings of the head and profile. He drew with speed colloquial speech, as his friends recalled.
Amedeo Modigliani is rightfully considered the singer of the beauty of the naked female body. He was one of the first to depict nudes more emotionally realistically. The nude in Modigliani’s work is not abstract, refined images, but real portrait images.
Amadeo Modigliani. Reclining nude with her arms crossed behind her head.
The technique and warm light palette in Modigliani’s paintings “revitalize” his canvases. Amedeo's nude paintings are considered the pearl of his creative heritage.
Amadeo Modigliani. Nude. Circa 1918.
Modigliani dreamed of creating his own temple of Beauty, creating images of beautiful women with elongated swan necks. Women have always loved and sought the love of an incredibly handsome Italian, but he dreamed and waited for one and only woman who would become his eternal, true love. Her image came to him more than once in a dream.
Are you a lily, a swan or a maiden,
I believed in your beauty, -
Profile Your Lord in a moment of anger
Inscribed on an angel's shield.
Oh don't sigh for me
Sadness is criminal and vain,
I'm here on a gray canvas
It arose strangely and unclearly.
And there is no sin in his wine,
He left, looking into the eyes of others,
But I don't dream of anything
In my dying lethargy.
Over your shoulder, where the seven-branched candlestick burns,
Where is the shadow of the Judean wall.
Calls the invisible sinner
The subconscious of the eternal spring.
In the spring of 1910, Modigliani met the young Russian poetess Anna Akhmatova. Their passionate romantic infatuation with each other lasted until August 1911, when they separated, never to see each other again.
“He had the head of Antinous and eyes with golden sparkles - he was completely unlike anyone else in the world.” Akhmatova.
In the bluish Paris fog,
And probably Modigliani again
Follows me unnoticed.
He has a sad quality
Even bring disorder into my sleep
And be the cause of many disasters.
But he told me - his Egyptian...
What is the old man playing on the organ?
And underneath it is the whole Parisian roar.
Like the roar of the underground sea, -
This one is also quite sad
And he took a sip of shame and dashing.
They spent an unforgettable three months together. In the artist’s tiny room, Akhmatova posed for him. That season, Amadeo painted more than ten portraits of her, which allegedly burned in a fire.
These two could have been together, but fate wanted to separate them. Now forever. But in those days, the lovers did not think that they were in danger of separation. They were everywhere together. He is lonely and poor beautiful artist with a colorful appearance, and she is a married Russian girl poet. When Akhmatova left Paris, saying goodbye to her beloved man, he gave her bundles of drawings briefly signed with his name.
Anna Akhmatova
Almost half a century later, Akhmatova nevertheless decided to describe her memories of her meeting with the Italian artist and their short but very bright romance. She confessed this about him:
“Everything that happened was for both of us the prehistory of our lives: his - very short, mine - very long.”
In June 1914, Modigliani met the talented and eccentric Englishwoman Beatrice Hastings, who had already tried herself in the field of a circus performer, journalist, poetess, traveler and art critic. Beatrice became Amedeo's companion, his muse and favorite model - he dedicated 14 portraits to her. The relationship with Beatrice lasted more than two years.
Beatrice Hastings
In 1915, Modigliani moved with Beatrice to Rue Norvain in Montmartre, where he painted portraits of his friends Picasso, Soutine, Jacques Lipchitz and other celebrities of the time. It was portraits that made Modigliani one of the central figures of Parisian bohemia.
In 1917, he met Jeanne Hebuterne.
Jeanne Hebuterne
Having seen her, as the legend says, he immediately began to paint her portrait. Amedeo was thirty-three, Zhanna was nineteen. Zhanna fell in love with Modi and followed him to life and death. She became his last and faithful life partner.
Modigliani's most passionate love was the 19-year-old artist.
Amadeo Modigliani. Portrait of Jeanne Ebuterne. 1919.
The parents were against their daughter’s marriage to a young poor artist, and Jeanne was Modigliani’s faithful companion and loved him until the end of her life. Jeanne Hebuter and Amadeo Modigliani had a daughter.
Amadeo Modigliani died at the age of 36 in a hospital for the poor from tuberculous meningitis.
Zhanna did not want to live without her beloved and jumped out of the window.
Seeing her, he immediately began sketching her portrait on a piece of paper. Modigliani finally met the one about whom he had once told his close friend, the sculptor Brancusi, that
“Waiting for one and only woman who will become his eternal true love and who often comes to him in his dreams.”
“She looked like a bird that was easily scared away. Feminine, with a shy smile. She spoke very quietly. Never a sip of wine. I looked at everyone as if in surprise.”
Zhanna was short, with reddish brown hair and very white skin. Because of this striking contrast in hair and complexion, her friends nicknamed her “Coconut.”
Amedeo was thirty-three.
He was thin, with a painful blush at times on his pale, sunken cheeks, and his teeth were blackened. This was no longer the handsome man with whom Anna Akhmatova walked through Paris at night - “the head of Antinous with golden sparks.” He lived in the workshop of Chaim Soutine, where he had to pour water on the floor to save himself from bedbugs, fleas, cockroaches, lice, and only then go to bed.
Late at night he could be seen on a bench in front of the Rotunda. Jeanne Hebuterne sat nearby, silent, fragile, loving, a real Madonna next to her deity...”
Although in recent years he painted almost only Joan, he depicted her on his canvases no less than 25 times. Elongated proportions. Sharpened brittle features. There is a painful nervous subtlety in the poses. They said about her that she, with her pale face with perfect features and long neck, resembled a swan.
January 19, 1920.
That evening, cold, stormy and windy, he wandered through the streets, coughing violently. The icy wind blew his jacket behind him. He was restless, noisy and almost dangerous. Friends advised him to go home, but he continued his senseless night circles.
The next day he became very ill and took to his bed. Neighbors from the workshop who visited Modi saw him lying in bed with a fever. Eight months pregnant, Zhanna sat down next to her. The room was terribly cold. They rushed to get the doctor. The situation kept getting worse. He was already unconscious.
On January 22, 1920, Modi was admitted to the Charité hospital for the poor and homeless. Two days later he was gone.
At dawn the next day at four o'clock in the morning, pregnant Zhanna jumped out of a sixth-floor window and fell to her death.
Amadeo Modigliani. Portrait of Jeanne Hebuterne in a yellow pullover. 1918.
Modigliani died on January 24, 1920 from tuberculous meningitis in a Paris clinic. A day later, on January 26, Jeanne Hebuterne, who was 9 months pregnant, committed suicide. Amedeo was buried in a modest grave without a monument in the Jewish section of the Père Lachaise cemetery; in 1930, 10 years after Jeanne's death, her remains were buried in a nearby grave.
Amedeo Modigliani
And fame came literally the next day after death. The funeral was very crowded. It seemed that all of Paris knew and loved Modi’s work. (If only during his lifetime!) They buried him at Père Lachaise. Standing at the coffin were Picasso, Leger, Soutine, Brancusi, Kisling, Jacob, Severini, Derain, Lipchitz, Vlaminck, Zborowski and many others - the elite of artistic Paris.
The suicide of Jeanne Hebuterne became a tragic postscript to Modigliani's life.
Modigliani was buried on January 27 in a modest grave without a monument in the Jewish section of the Père Lachaise cemetery. He was accompanied to the cemetery by all the artists of Paris, among whom was Picasso, as well as crowds of his inconsolable models.
Jeanne was buried the next day - in the Parisian suburb of Banier.
Together they ended up under the same slab only 10 years later. Relatives who blamed Modigliani for her death allowed her remains to be transferred to the Père Lachaise cemetery.
“His canvases are not random visions - this is a world realized by the artist, who had an extraordinary combination of childishness and wisdom, spontaneity and inner purity.”- Ehrenburg
“He worked a lot. To leave such a legacy, to create such a pantheon of masterpieces, you needed hours and hours at the easel, you had to work tirelessly, and you had to have a fresh head and an open soul, because he seemed to shine through his models, telling everything about them. This not only casts doubt on the legend of the eternal drunkard and tramp, but refutes it. Modigliani was not just a very good portrait painter, he was a truly brilliant psychologist and analyst, and also a seer - literally predicted in a whole series of portraits he painted. the fate of those whom he wrote." Pablo Picasso.
Modigliani, Picasso and Andre Salmon at the entrance to the Rotunda. 1916
The world recognized Modigliani as a great artist only when three years had passed since his death. Today, his paintings at various auctions are valued at fabulous prices, from 15 million dollars or more.
In the early 1990s of the last century, an exhibition of works by the Italian artist Amadeo Modigliani took place in Italy.
Stills from the film by Michael Davis Modigliani
The famous French film “Montparnasse 19” was shot, dedicated to Amadeo Modigliani, in which the brilliant French actor Gerard Philippe played the role of the artist soulfully.
“Life is a gift from the few to the many, from those who know and can, to those who don’t know and can’t.” Amadeo Modigliani.
"I forgot to tell you that I am a Jew" Amadeo Modigliani.
Biography and episodes of life Amedeo Modigliani. When born and died Amedeo Modigliani, memorable places and dates of important events in his life. Artist Quotes, photos and videos.
Years of life of Amedeo Modigliani:
born July 12, 1884, died January 24, 1920
Epitaph
Left a mark in people's hearts,
The memory of you is forever alive.
Biography
Biography of Amedeo Modigliani - life story genius artist, recognized only after death. Modigliani's life was filled with many hardships - poverty, misunderstanding of his contemporaries, drugs, failed relationships and serious illnesses. Today, Modigliani's paintings are sold for fabulous sums - Amedeo is considered one of the most famous artists of the 19th-20th centuries.
Perhaps, if not for a difficult childhood, Modigliani would never have become an artist. The boy grew up in a poor family of Italian Jews and was sick a lot - first with pleurisy, then with typhus. During his fever, Amedeo raved about paintings Italian artists, and when he recovered, his parents allowed him to leave school and take up painting to help the young man realize his dreams. By the age of eighteen, Modigliani’s mother was able to save some money so that he could continue his studies and work in Paris, where Amedeo moved.
In Paris, Modigliani was constantly short of money. And not only because his paintings hardly sold, but also because, finding himself in bohemian French society, young Modigliani soon became interested in alcohol and drugs. He survived mainly thanks to his patrons, who saw young man great talent. But Modigliani’s only lifetime exhibition was closed within a few hours; the police from the station opposite were outraged by the images of nude models in Modigliani’s paintings.
Modigliani's personal life was also stormy - it was rumored that he had love relationship with all the women who posed for him. He himself explained this as a necessity, saying how you can draw a woman and show her beauty and sensuality without ever knowing her. Among Modigliani's famous novels is his love affair with Anna Akhmatova. Modigliani's last and most important model was the artist Jeanne Hebuterne. In fact, they were spouses. Jeanne gave birth to Modigliani's only daughter - she was named after her mother.
Hebuterne was pregnant with her second child when her husband died suddenly. Modigliani's death occurred when he was only 35 years old. Modigliani's cause of death was tuberculous meningitis. The day after Amedeo Modigliani's death, his wife committed suicide by jumping out of a window. At the time of her death, she was nine months pregnant. Modigliani's funeral took place in Paris; Modigliani's grave is located in the Père Lachaise cemetery. The remains of his wife, reburied ten years after her death, rest in the adjacent grave.
Life line
July 12, 1884 Date of birth of Amedeo Modigliani.
1898 Modigliani's visit to Guglielmo Micheli's private art studio.
1902 Admission to the Free School of Nude Painting from the Academy of Arts in Florence.
1903 Admission to the Venice Institute of Fine Arts.
1906 Moving to Paris.
1910 Meeting Akhmatova.
December 3, 1917 Opening of Modigliani's only lifetime exhibition.
April 1917 Meet Jeanne Hebuterne.
November 29, 1918 Birth of Modigliani's daughter, Jeanne.
January 24, 1920 Modigliani's date of death.
Memorable places
1. Livorno, where Amedeo Modigliani was born.
2. Modigliani House in Italy.
3. Academy of Fine Arts in Florence, where Modigliani studied.
4. Cafe "Rotunda", where Parisian artists often gathered and where Modigliani met Akhmatova.
5. Modigliani's house (workshop) in Paris, where he lived and worked in 1916.
6. Modigliani's house in Paris, where he lived in his last years before his death.
7. The building of the former Charité hospital, where Modigliani died.
8. Père Lachaise cemetery, where Modigliani is buried.
Episodes of life
In Paris, Modigliani was in poverty, like many other artists. Addicted to alcohol, he sometimes tried to pay for drinks with his drawings or sketches, which no one bought. For example, the owner of a brasserie in Montparnasse, who had a liking for a pale, dark-haired young man in a felt hat, agreed to such a barter. True, Rosalie was an illiterate woman and used the drawings she received from Modigliani to light the fireplace, so only a few works have survived. On them Amedeo left the signature “Modi” - translated from French as “damned”.
The period of relations with Anna Akhmatova was very fruitful for the artist. In total, Modigliani wrote about 150 works in which one can detect a portrait resemblance to the Russian poetess. Akhmatova herself preserved only one drawing by Modigliani. When the poet Anatoly Naiman asked Anna Andreevna if she had a will, she replied: “What kind of inheritance can we talk about? Take Modi’s drawing under your arm and leave.”
During the last years of Modigliani's life, his paintings finally began to sell. Amedeo and Zhanna had money, she became pregnant with her second child, and it seemed that things were going uphill. Alas, but sudden illness ended the artist's life, followed by his beloved - of her own free will. After the death of both parents, Modigliani's daughter was taken in by Amedeo's sister.
Covenant
"Happiness is an angel with a sad face."
TV story about Modigliani's life
Condolences
“Everything divine in Modigliani only sparkled through some kind of darkness. He was completely unlike anyone else in the world.”
Anna Akhmatova, poetess
“Our Modigliani, or Modi, as he is called, was a typical and at the same time very talented representative of bohemian Montmartre; rather, he was the last true representative of bohemia.”
Ludwig Meidner, artist