Biography of Modigliani
Amedeo Modigliani(Modigliani, Amedeo) (1884–1920), outstanding Italian painter and sculptor . Born July 12, 1884 in Livorno. After studying at the painting school in Livorno with G. Micheli, in 1902 Modigliani entered the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence, and a little later - the Academy in Venice.
At the beginning of 1906 he arrived in Paris, where he began searching for a modern artistic language. He was influenced by P. Cezanne, Toulouse-Lautrec, P. Picasso, Fauvism and Cubism, but ultimately developed own style, which is characterized by a rich and dense color.
In November 1907, Modigliani met Dr. Paul Alexandre, who rented a studio for him and became the first collector of his work. The artist became a member of the Independent group and exhibited his works in their salon in 1908 and 1910.
Acquaintance with the sculptor Constantin Brancusi in 1909 played a fundamental role in the development of Modigliani's sculptural creativity. Modigliani received support from Brancusi and valuable advice. During these years, Modigliani was mainly engaged in sculpting and studying works of classical antiquity, Indian and African sculpture. In 1912 he exhibited seven sculptural works at the Autumn Salon.
With the outbreak of World War I, many of Modigliani's friends left Paris. The artist was depressed by changes in life, unemployment, and poverty. At this time he met the English poet Beatrice Hastings, with whom he lived for two years. Modigliani was friendly with artists as diverse as Picasso, Chaim Soutine and Maurice Utrillo, as well as with collectors and business people– Paul Guillaume and Leopold Zborowski. The latter became the artist's patron and supported his work.
During these years, Modigliani returned to painting and created perhaps his most significant works. The abstractness inherent in his works was a consequence of the study of the art of ancient civilizations and the Italian primitive, as well as the influence of his Cubist friends; at the same time, his works are distinguished by amazing subtlety psychological characteristics. Later, the formal side of his work becomes more and more simple and classical, reduced to a combination of graphic and color rhythms.
In 1917 Modigliani, at that time already very ill and prone to alcoholism, met Jeanne Hebuterne, who became his companion in recent years life. The following year, Zborovsky organized a solo exhibition of the artist at the Bertha Weil Gallery. She was not successful, but caused a scandal with several nude images: they were considered indecent, and at the request of the police the paintings were removed. Nevertheless, some French and foreign collectors showed interest in Modigliani's work. In 1918, the artist went to the Cote d'Azur for rest and treatment and stayed there for some time, continuing to work hard. Modigliani died shortly after returning to Paris, on January 24, 1920. The next morning, Jeanne Hebuterne committed suicide.
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 torment of an always restless conscience.
Today is the birthday of a famous artist, about whom books are written and films are made, and whose original style cannot be put into any one category. artistic direction. During his lifetime, his works were not in demand, but today they are breaking records at world auctions. Amadeo Modigliani turns 132 today.
in the photo: portrait of Jeanne Hebuterne
Amadeo Modigliani. Artist of Jewish origin
Modigliani's real name is Iededia, and among his family it is Dedo. He was born on July 12, 1884 in Livorno (Tuscany, Italy) into a family of Sephardic Jews. His father, Flaminio Modigliani, a mining engineer, managed coal mines in Sardinia and owned thirty acres of forestry. But when Amadeo was already an adult, the family's income was too small to support him. Therefore, the artist suffered hardships, especially while living in Paris.
Amadeo Modigliani. The main motive is the person
The creativity is so original that it cannot be attributed to any modern artist movement, although the formation of Modigliani’s style was greatly influenced by Paul Cézanne, Toulouse-Lautrec, Pablo Picasso and other representatives of Fauvism, Cubism and others contemporary artist directions.
Amadeo Modigliani. Came to painting through illness
According to the memoirs of Amadeo’s mother (namely, from her diary we know the facts of the artist’s life), at the age of 14 the boy fell ill with typhus, which was incurable at that time. Put to bed with a high fever, Amadeo raved about the works of Italian masters. As soon as Dido miraculously recovered, his parents allowed him to leave school so that he could free time devote to painting lessons at the Academy of Arts of Livorno. Since then, young Modigliani has studied a lot with different masters and different schools: in Florence, Venice and, later, in Paris.
Amadeo Modigliani. The last representative of the Parisian bohemia
At the beginning of 1906, using money saved by his mother, Amadeo went to the center of world art of that time - Paris. There, the artist spends hours in the halls of the Louvre, making friends with his contemporaries - the painter Maurice Utrillo, the poet Max Jacob, the artist Pablo Picasso. Despite his poor health (in 1900, Modigliani was struck down by tuberculosis), Amadeo takes an active part in the bohemian life of Montmartre, where he rents a studio. Alcohol and hashish are an integral part of it.
Amadeo Modigliani. Modigliani's patron was the doctor
In 1907, Modigliani rented accommodation with Dr. Paul Alexandre. The latter became a patron young artist, he himself bought his works (his collection includes 450 graphic and 25 paintings). With him light hand Modigliani's works were exhibited at the Salon des Indépendants, although they left the public, who at that time was keen on fashionable cubism, indifferent.
Amadeo Modigliani. Nude with red hair
Amadeo Modigliani. Modigliani the sculptor
Although Amadeo Modigliani is better known as an artist, from 1909 to 1914 he was mainly engaged in sculpture. Having moved to Montparnasse and met the Romanian sculptor Constantin Brancusi, Modigliani devoted himself entirely to working with stone. According to rumors, he is even stealing stone blocks from the construction site of the future metro. In 1911, Amadeo exhibited stone sculptures of the voice (the so-called “pillars of tenderness”) in the studio of the Portuguese artist Amadeo de Sousa-Cordoso. Some of these works were even sold by the artist at the Autumn Salon in 1912.
Amadeo Modigliani. Portrait of Beatrice Hastings
Amadeo Modigliani. Love with Akhmatova
In 1910, Amadeo Modigliani met Anna Akhmatova and they began romantic relationship. The artist created 16 drawings-portraits of Akhmatova. But we know about this only from Akhmatova’s memoirs. The drawings themselves perished in her Tsarskoye Selo house in the first years of the war. Only one has survived. In 1911 the couple separated.
Amadeo Modigliani. Master "nude"
The pearl of Amadeo Modigliani's creativity is considered to be his work in the nude genre. Original, warm, sensual and very realistic, they once led to the sudden closure of his personal exhibition in Paris, which, as luck would have it, took place just opposite the police station.
Amadeo Modigliani. Portrait of a reclining nude. 1919
Amadeo Modigliani. Two main women, besides the mother
In 1914, Modigliani met the English journalist, poet, traveler and art critic Beatrice Hastings, who became his companion and model - the artist painted 14 portraits of her. Three years later, 19-year-old Jeanne Hebuterne appeared in Modigliani’s life. From this relationship a daughter was born, who was also named Zhanna, and 25 portraits of Zhanna the mother.
Amadeo Modigliani. Died of tuberculosis, not like in the film
In 1919, Amadeo and Jeanne and their child returned to Paris from the south of France, where they were waiting out the possible occupation of Paris by German troops. Having learned about Jeanne's second pregnancy, she and Amadeo decided to get married. But on January 24, 1920, Amadeo Modigliani died in hospital from tuberculous meningitis, and was not killed, as in the film “Modigliani” by Mick Davis. The next day, Zhanna committed suicide; at this point the movie did not lie. The couple was buried in Père Lachaise Cemetery. Their daughter was raised by Modigliani's sister.
Amedeo (Iedidia) Clemente Modigliani (Italian: Amedeo Clemente Modigliani; July 12, 1884, Livorno, Kingdom of Italy - January 24, 1920, Paris, French Third Republic) - Italian artist and sculptor, one of the most famous artists late XIX- early 20th century, representative of expressionism.
Modigliani grew up in Italy, where he studied ancient art and the works of the Renaissance masters, until he moved to Paris in 1906. In Paris, he met artists such as Pablo Picasso and Constantin Brâncuşi, who had a great influence on his work. Modigliani had poor health - he often suffered from lung diseases and died of tuberculous meningitis at the age of 35. The artist’s life is known only from a few reliable sources.
Modigliani's legacy consists mainly of paintings and sketches, but from 1909 to 1914 he was mainly engaged in sculptures. Both on canvas and in sculpture, Modigliani's main motif was man. In addition, several landscapes have been preserved; still lifes and paintings genre character did not interest the artist. Modigliani often turned to the works of representatives of the Renaissance, as well as to African art, popular at that time. At the same time, Modigliani’s work cannot be attributed to any of the modern trends of that time, such as cubism or fauvism. Because of this, art historians consider Modigliani's work separately from the main trends of the time. During his lifetime, Modigliani’s works were not successful and became popular only after the artist’s death: at two Sotheby’s auctions in 2010, two paintings by Modigliani were sold for 60.6 and 68.9 million US dollars, and in 2015, “Reclining Nude” was sold at Christie's for $170.4 million.
Amedeo (Iedidia) Modigliani was born into a family of Sephardic Jews Flaminio Modigliani and Eugenia Garcin in Livorno (Tuscany, Italy). He was the youngest (fourth) of the children. His older brother, Giuseppe Emanuele Modigliani (1872-1947, family name Meno), later a famous Italian anti-fascist politician. His mother's great-grandfather, Solomon Garcin, and his wife Regina Spinosa settled in Livorno in the 18th century (however, their son Giuseppe moved to Marseille in 1835); my father's family moved to Livorno from Rome to mid-19th century (the father himself was born in Rome in 1840). Flaminio Modigliani (son of Emanuele Modigliani and Olympia Della Rocca) was a mining engineer who supervised coal mines in Sardinia and managed nearly thirty acres of forest land that his family owned.
By the time Amedeo (family name Dedo) was born, the family’s affairs (trade in wood and coal) had fallen into disrepair; mother, born and raised in Marseille in 1855, had to earn a living by teaching French and translations, including works by Gabriele d'Annunzio. In 1886, his grandfather, Isaaco Garsen, who became impoverished and moved to his daughter from Marseille, settled in Modigliani’s house, and until his death in 1894 he was seriously involved in raising his grandchildren. His aunt Gabriela Garcin (who later committed suicide) also lived in the house and thus Amedeo was immersed in French speech, which later facilitated his integration in Paris. It is believed that it was the romantic nature of the mother that had a huge influence on the worldview of the young Modigliani. Her diary, which she began to keep shortly after Amedeo's birth, is one of the few documentary sources about the artist's life.
At the age of 11, Modigliani fell ill with pleurisy, and in 1898 with typhus, which was an incurable disease at that time. This became a turning point in his life. According to the stories of his mother, while lying in a feverish delirium, Modigliani raved about the masterpieces of Italian masters, and also recognized his destiny as an artist. After recovery, Amedeo's parents allowed Amedeo to leave school so that he could begin taking drawing and painting lessons at the Livorno Academy of Arts.
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Until he moved to Paris in 1906. In Paris, he met such artists as Pablo Picasso and Constantin Brâncuşi, who had a great influence on his work. Modigliani had poor health - he often suffered from lung diseases and died of tuberculous meningitis at the age of 35. The artist’s life is known only from a few reliable sources.
Modigliani's legacy consists mainly of paintings and sketches, but from 1914 to 1914 he was mainly engaged in sculptures. Both on canvas and in sculpture, Modigliani's main motif was man. In addition, several landscapes have survived; still lifes and genre paintings did not interest the artist. Modigliani often turned to the works of representatives of the Renaissance, as well as to African art, which was popular at that time. At the same time, Modigliani’s work cannot be attributed to any of the modern movements of that time, such as cubism or fauvism. Because of this, art historians consider Modigliani's work separately from the main trends of the time. During his lifetime, Modigliani’s works were not successful and became popular only after the artist’s death: at two Sotheby’s auctions in 2010, two paintings by Modigliani were sold for 60.6 and 68.9 million US dollars, and in 2015 “Reclining Nude” was sold at Christie's for $170.4 million.
Encyclopedic YouTube
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✪ Diary of a Genius. Amedeo Modigliani. Part VII. Diary of a Genius. Amedeo Modigliani. Part VII.
✪ Modigliani, "Girl in a Shirt"
✪ Diary of a Genius. Amedeo Modigliani. Part VI. Diary of a Genius. Amedeo Modigliani. Part VI.
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Biography
Childhood
Amedeo (Iedidia) Modigliani was born to Sephardic Jewish parents Flaminio Modigliani and Eugenia Garcin in Livorno (Tuscany, Italy). He was the youngest (fourth) of the children. His older brother, Giuseppe Emanuele Modigliani (1872-1947, family name Meno), - later a famous Italian anti-fascist politician. His mother's great-grandfather, Solomon Garcin, and his wife Regina Spinosa settled in Livorno in the 18th century (however, their son Giuseppe moved to Marseille in 1835); the father's family moved to Livorno from Rome in the mid-19th century (the father himself was born in Rome in 1840). Flaminio Modigliani (son of Emanuele Modigliani and Olympia Della Rocca) was a mining engineer who supervised coal mines in Sardinia and managed nearly thirty acres of forest land that his family owned.
By the time Amedeo (family name) was born Dedo) the family’s affairs (trade of firewood and coal) fell into disrepair; his mother, born and raised in Marseille in 1855, had to earn a living by teaching French and translating, including the works of Gabriele d'Annunzio. In 1886, his grandfather, Isaaco Garsen, who became impoverished and moved to his daughter from Marseille, settled in Modigliani’s house, and until his death in 1894, he was seriously involved in raising his grandchildren. His aunt Gabriela Garcin (who later committed suicide) also lived in the house and thus Amedeo was immersed in French from childhood, which later facilitated his integration in Paris. It is believed that it was the romantic nature of the mother that had a huge influence on the worldview of the young Modigliani. Her diary, which she began to keep shortly after Amedeo's birth, is one of the few documentary sources about the artist's life.
At the age of 11, Modigliani fell ill with pleurisy, and in 1898 with typhus, which was an incurable disease at that time. This became a turning point in his life. According to the stories of his mother, while lying in a feverish delirium, Modigliani raved about the masterpieces of Italian masters, and also recognized his destiny as an artist. After recovery, Amedeo's parents allowed Amedeo to leave school so that he could begin taking drawing and painting lessons at the Livorno Academy of Arts.
Study in Italy
In 1898, Modigliani began visiting private art studio Guglielmo Micheli. At 14 years old, he was the youngest student in his class. In addition to lessons in a studio with a strong focus on impressionism, Modigliani learned to depict the nude in the atelier of Gino Romiti. By 1900, young Modigliani's health had deteriorated, in addition he fell ill with tuberculosis and was forced to spend the winter of 1900-1901 with his mother in Naples, Rome and Capri. From his travels, Modigliani wrote five letters to his friend Oscar Ghiglia, from which one can learn about Modigliani's attitude towards Rome.
In the spring of 1901, Modigliani followed Oscar Ghiglia to Florence - they were friends despite the nine-year age difference. After spending the winter in Rome in the spring of 1902, Modigliani entered the Free School of Nude Painting (Scuola libera di Nudo) in Florence, where he studied art with Giovanni Fattori. It was during that period that he began to visit Florentine museums and churches and study the art of the Renaissance that admired him.
A year later, in 1903, Modigliani again followed his friend Oscar, this time to Venice, where he remained until moving to Paris. In March he entered the Venice Institute fine arts (Istituto di Belle Arti di Venezia), while continuing to study the works of the old masters. At the Venice Biennales of 1903 and 1905, Modigliani became acquainted with the works of French impressionists - sculptures by Rodin and examples of symbolism. It is believed that it was in Venice that he became addicted to hashish and began to take part in spiritualistic séances.
Paris
At the beginning of 1906, with a small amount of money that his mother was able to raise for him, Modigliani moved to Paris, which he had been dreaming of for several years, as he hoped to find understanding and incentive for creativity among Parisian artists. At the beginning of the 20th century, Paris was the center of world art, young unknown artists quickly became famous, more and more avant-garde directions of painting were opened. Modigliani spent his first months in Parisian museums and churches, getting acquainted with painting and sculpture in the halls of the Louvre, as well as with representatives contemporary art. At first, Modigliani lived in a comfortable hotel on the right bank, as he considered it consistent with his social status, however, he soon rented a small studio in Montmartre and began attending classes at the Académie Colarossi. At the same time, Modigliani met Maurice Utrillo, with whom they remained friends for life. At the same time, Modigliani became closer to the poet Max Jacob, whom he then painted repeatedly, and Pablo Picasso, who lived near him in Bateau Lavoir. Despite his poor health, Modigliani took an active part in the noisy life of Montmartre. One of his first Parisian friends was German artist Ludwig Meidner, who called him “the last representative of bohemianism”:
“Our Modigliani, or Modi, as he is called, was a typical and at the same time very talented representative of bohemian Montmartre; rather, even he was the last true representative of bohemia".
While living in Paris, Modigliani experienced great financial difficulties: although his mother regularly sent him money, it was not enough to survive in Paris. The artist had to change apartments often. Sometimes he even left his works in apartments when he was forced to leave another shelter because he could not pay for the apartment.
In the spring of 1907, Modigliani moved into a mansion that was rented out to young artists by Dr. Paul Alexandre. The young doctor became Modigliani's first patron, and their friendship lasted seven years. Alexander bought Modigliani’s drawings and paintings (his collection included 25 paintings and 450 graphic works), and also organized portrait orders for him. In 1907, several of Modigliani's works were exhibited at the Salon d'Automne; the following year, at the insistence of Paul Alexandre, he exhibited five of his works at the Salon des Indépendants, among them the portrait "Jewish Woman". Modigliani's works remained unnoticed by the public because they did not belong to the then fashionable movement of cubism, which arose in 1907 and whose founders were Picasso and Georges Braque. In the spring of 1909, through Alexander Modigliani received his first order and painted the portrait “Amazon”.
Sculpture
In April 1909, Modigliani moved to an atelier in Montparnasse. Through his patron, he met the Romanian sculptor Constantin Brâncuşi, who later had a huge influence on Amedeo. For some time, Modigliani preferred sculpture to painting. They even said that for his sculptures Modigliani stole stone blocks and wooden sleepers from the construction sites of the metro being built at that time. The artist himself was never puzzled by the denial of rumors and fabrications about himself. There are several versions of why Modigliani changed his field of activity. According to one of them, the artist had long dreamed of taking up sculpture, but did not have the technical capabilities, which became available to him only after moving to a new studio. According to another, Modigliani wanted to try his hand at sculpture because of the failure of his paintings at exhibitions.
Thanks to Zborowski, Modigliani's works were exhibited in London and received admiring responses. In May 1919, the artist returned to Paris, where he took part in the Autumn Salon. Having learned about Jeanne's second pregnancy, the couple decided to get engaged, but the wedding never took place due to Modigliani's illness with tuberculosis at the end of 1919.
Modigliani died on January 24, 1920 from tuberculous meningitis in a Paris clinic. A day later, on January 25, 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. Their child was adopted by Modigliani's sister.
Creation
The direction in which Modigliani worked is traditionally referred to as expressionism. However, this issue is not so simple. It’s not for nothing that Amedeo is called an artist of the Parisian school - during his stay in Paris he was influenced by various masters fine arts: Toulouse-Lautrec, Cezanne, Picasso, Renoir. His work contains echoes of primitivism and abstraction. Modigliani's sculptural studios clearly show the influence of African plastic arts, fashionable at that time, on his work. Actually, expressionism in Modigliani’s work is manifested in the expressive sensuality of his paintings, in their great emotionality.
Nude
Amedeo Modigliani is rightfully considered the singer of nude beauty female body. He was one of the first to depict nude more emotionally realistic. It was this circumstance that at one time led to the lightning closure of his first personal exhibition in Paris. The nude in Modigliani's work is not abstract, refined images, but real portrait images. The technique and warm light palette in Modigliani’s paintings “revitalize” his canvases. Amedeo's paintings, made in the nude genre, are considered the pearl of his creative heritage.
(1884-1920) Italian artist, graphic artist and sculptor
In modern consciousness, the image of Amedeo Modigliani was largely influenced by the brilliant performance of the French actor Gerard Philip 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, a legend has been created, and it is very difficult to change the prevailing stereotype.
Biographical information about Amedeo Modigliani is contradictory and extremely scarce. Thus, 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 leaving any offspring.
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 the 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 adoptive mother of an 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 were they able to somehow get back on their feet. Amedeo Garcin, Eugenia's older brother, helped more than others. He continued to help the future artist, who was named after his uncle.
Amedeo Modigliani studied quite well, but school did not interest him at all. In 1898 he suffered a serious illness - typhus. Apparently, it was at this time that Modigliani realized that he could paint. Soon he was so captivated by drawing 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 proponent of post-impressionism. However, the formation of Amedeo Modigliani took place under the influence of many artists. His passion influenced his work domestic artists, primarily by representatives of the Sienese and Florentine schools - Sandro Botticelli and Filippo Liss.
At the end of 1900, Amedeo Modigliani fell ill again - typhus caused complications in his lungs. On the advice of doctors, he went south and lived in Naples for two years. There he first began to paint sculpture and architecture. In the studies of sculptures of 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 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 line, simplicity of form while constantly maintaining volume. Modigliani loved to paint nudes, admiring the fragility and grace of the female body. He creates mostly intimate portraits, avoiding the deliberate pretentiousness characteristic, for example, of Picasso’s paintings. He also devoted great value 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 Garsen, 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.
He initially enrolled in the Colarossi Academy, but soon left it because he could not come to terms with the confines of the academic tradition. Amedeo Modigliani rents a studio in Montmartre, where his first Parisian works appeared. But a year later the artist moved from Montmartre. At that time, he gained an admirer - Dr. Paul Alexander. Together with his brother, the doctor ran a kind of shelter for poor artists. Modigliani settled there in the fall of 1907. It was Alexander who became the buyer of the “Jewish Woman,” for which he then paid only two hundred francs.
And a little later, he convinced Amedeo Modigliani to give his works to the exhibition of the Salon of Independents. At the end of 1907, five works were exhibited there Italian master. The doctor's friends bought up these paintings. In the fall, Modigliani exhibited at the Salon again, but this time no one bought his work. Depression, complete loneliness, in which the artist found himself because of his “explosive” character, his addiction to alcohol became the reason for the appearance of a kind of internal barrier that hindered him so much in 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, the young man will become interesting artist, which will create its 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 of Modigliani’s characters are easily recognizable, although what we have before us is precisely the author’s vision of his heroes, close at the same time to decadent stylization and African sculpture.
Portraits of Amedeo Modigliani were written partly under the influence of the work of Cezanne, whose big exhibition he saw in 1907. From his passion for Cézanne comes attempts to convey the subject through a special plastic space and a new palette of colors. But even in this case Modigliani retains his extraordinary vision of the hero, almost always depicting a seated man, as, for example, in his painting “Sitting Boy”.
Feeling sorry for the artist, some specially ordered paintings from him to support him. But mostly he painted close people - M. Jacob, L. Zborovsky, P. Picasso, D. Rivera. One series of portraits was inspired in 1914 by a meeting with the Russian poet Anna Akhmatova. Unfortunately, only one drawing from the entire cycle has survived, the one that Akhmatova took with her. The dominant feature of the 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 was influenced by the philosopher F. Nietzsche, as well as the poet and writer G. D. Annunzio. He knew classical Italian and new French symbolist poetry very well, read by heart F. Villon, Dante, Sh . Baudelaire and Arthur Rimbaud. At the beginning of the 20th century, a passion for the philosophy of A. Bergson came.
The versatility of his interests, passion for travel, and the desire to constantly discover new things in communication with his contemporaries determined Modigliani’s appeal to different forms art. Almost simultaneously with serious paintings His sculptures also appear.
Having chosen the path of a free artist, Modigliani leads a bohemian lifestyle. He doesn't finish art schools, but only is in them, tries hashish and turns from a shy, modest young man into a cult figure. Everyone who knew Modigliani celebrates him unusual appearance and a penchant for extraordinary actions. At the same time, his penchant for alcohol and drugs can be explained by the fact that he sought to overcome internal insecurity or simply succumbed to the influence of friends.
Amedeo Modigliani has many things in common with Matisse - the laconicism of the line, the clarity of the silhouette, the generality of the form. But Modigliani does not have Matisse’s monumentalism; his images are much chamberer, more intimate ( female portraits, nude), Modigliani’s line is of 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 pose. You recognize an 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 in no way destroy the individuality of each image.
At the end of his life path Amedeo Modigliani met the aspiring artist Jeanne Hebuterne, and they began to live together. As usual, Modigliani painted a portrait of a person who had become close to him. But, unlike his previous friends, she became a ray of happiness and light for him. However, their relationship was short-lived. In the winter of 1920, Modigliani died quietly in the hospital. After the funeral, Zhanna returned to her parents. But there she found herself in complete isolation, because the Catholic family could not come to terms with the fact that her husband was a Jew. Despite the fact that at this 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 preserved some of his paintings and did not stop the girl from being interested in painting. When she grew up, she became her father's biographer and created a book about him.
The creative legacy of Amedeo Modigliani has spread throughout the world. True, many of the artist’s works have not survived due to the author’s nomadic lifestyle. Modigliani often paid with his paintings, gave them to friends or gave them for safekeeping. Some of them died because the First world war. Thus, 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 became a kind of symbol of his difficult era. He was buried in the Père Lachaise cemetery. There is a short inscription on the grave: “Death overtook him on the threshold of glory.”