Amedeo Modigliani: biography, photos and interesting facts. Parisian sleepwalker Amedeo ModiglianiModiliani's biography is a ready-made romantic melodrama to which nothing needs to be added
Born July 12, 1884 in Livorno, on west coast 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 a 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 doted on him also because the boy grew up weak. In 1895 he was seriously ill with pleurisy, and in 1898 with typhoid fever.
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 as an apprentice local artist and sculptor G. Micheli.
“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 causes early death artist. The mother took her son to improve his health on the island of Capri. On way back the teenager visited Rome, Florence and Venice. From this trip, letters he sent to a friend have been preserved - with ardent declarations of love for art and with mention of beautiful images, “disturbing the imagination.” However, there was something else about them. In one of his letters from Capri, a young traveler talks about a “walk moonlit night with a Norwegian girl, very attractive to look at.” Amedeo was very handsome and easily won women's hearts. As one of his brothers noted, “all the girls were crazy about Amedeo.” Having matured, he became a real heartthrob and ladies' man.
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. However, it is clear that it was in Venice that Amedeo learned what drugs were. Later, Modigliani, according to various testimonies, could no longer do without hashish.
Venice was colorful national composition city with the richest 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 Garcia, 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 all the delights of metropolitan life, not avoiding bars and brothels. Among his closest friends, Jews predominated - let's name, for example, the artist Chaim Soutine, the sculptor Jacques Lipchitz (both from Lithuania) and the poet Max Jacob. Anti-Semitism, rare in Italy, was commonplace in Paris, causing Modigliani's instinctive protest and a strong sense of his own nationality. When meeting someone, he now introduced himself provocatively: Modigliani, a Jew.
In November 1907, Modigliani met a young doctor and art lover, Paul Alexandre, the first collector of his works. Only World War divorced 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.
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. Moreover, almost everyone who knew him well noted that the sober artist was an ordinary person, no different from most young people of that time.
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 and journalist Beatrice Hastings. The acquaintance grew into whirlwind romance, which lasted two years. What the relationship between the lovers was like can be judged by the fact that once Modigliani admitted that he threw Beatrice out of the window, and another time, burning 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 art gallery Bertoy Weil about the organization personal exhibition Modigliani (this was his only lifetime “staff”). 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. 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 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.
Until he moved to Paris in 1906. In Paris, he met such artists as Pablo Picasso and Constantin Brancusi, who influenced big 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 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.
Encyclopedic YouTube
1 / 3
✪ 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.
Subtitles
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; 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 Garcin, 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, typhus, which was common at the time incurable disease. This became a turning point in his life. According to the stories of his mother, while lying in a feverish delirium, Modigliani raved about masterpieces 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 - Rodin's sculptures 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 collect 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 in the environment 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 accepted Active participation in the bustling 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 drawings and paintings by Modigliani (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 of the "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, Modigliani received his first order through Alexander 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 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 visual arts: Toulouse-Lautrec, Cezanne, Picasso, Renoir. His work contains echoes of primitivism and abstraction. Modigliani's sculptural studios clearly show the influence of African sculpture, 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 the beauty of the naked 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.
Famous artist Amedeo Modigliani was born in 1884 in Livorno, in what was then called the Kingdom of Italy. His parents were Sephardic Jews and the family had four children. Amedeo or Iedidia (that was his real name) was the smallest. He was destined to become one of the most famous artists of the end of the century before last and the beginning of the last century, a prominent representative expressionist art.
For his very short life, and he lived only 35 years, the artist managed to reach heights that were inaccessible to many other people who lived to old age. He burned very brightly, despite the lung disease that consumed him. At the age of 11, the boy suffered from pleurisy and then typhoid. This is a very serious disease, from which many did not survive. But Amedeo survived, although it cost him his health. Physical weakness did not prevent his genius from developing, although it brought a handsome young man to the grave.
Modigliani lived his childhood and youth in. In this country, the very environment and numerous monuments helped the study ancient art. The future artist’s sphere of interests also included the art of the Renaissance, which helped him in further development and largely influenced his perception of reality.
The time when Modigliani was formed as a person and as an artist gave the world a lot talented craftsmen. During this period, the attitude towards the art of the past was revised, and new ones were formed. artistic movements and directions. Having moved to Moscow in 1906, the future master found himself in the thick of seething events.
Like the masters of the Renaissance, Modigliani was primarily interested in people, not objects. In his creative heritage Only a few landscapes survived, while other genres of painting did not interest him at all. In addition, until 1914 he devoted himself almost entirely exclusively to sculpture. In Paris, Modigliani met and became friends with numerous bohemians, including Maurice Utrillo and Ludwig Meidner.
His works periodically contain references to the art of the Renaissance period, as well as undoubted influence African traditions in art. Modigliani always stood aloof from all recognizable fashion trends; his work is a real phenomenon in the history of art. Unfortunately, very little documentary evidence and stories have survived about the artist’s life that can be 100% trusted. During his lifetime, the master was not understood and not appreciated at all; his paintings were not sold. But after his death in 1920 from meningitis caused by tuberculosis, the world realized that it had lost a genius. If he could see it, he would appreciate the irony of fate. Paintings, which during his lifetime did not bring him even a piece of bread, beginning of XXI centuries went under the hammer for fabulous sums amounting to tens of millions of dollars. Truly, to become great, one must die in poverty and obscurity.
Modigliani's sculptures have much in common with African ones, but are by no means simple copies. This is a reimagining of the special ethnic style, superimposed on modern realities. The faces of his statues are simple and extremely stylized, while they in a most amazing way retain individuality.
Modigliani's paintings are usually classified as expressionism, but nothing in his work can be interpreted unambiguously. He was one of the first to bring emotion to paintings with nudes women's bodies– nude. They have both eroticism and sexual attractiveness, but not abstract, but completely real, ordinary. Modigliani’s canvases depict not ideal beauties, but living women with bodies devoid of perfection, which is why they are attractive. It was these paintings that began to be perceived as the pinnacle of the artist’s creativity, his unique achievement.
Birthday today famous artist, about which books are written and films are made, and original style which cannot be put into any one 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.
on the picture: 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 by 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 in different masters and in 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 the patron of the young artist and bought his works himself (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, poetess, 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.
His personality
Amedeo was brought up in the Jewish family of businessman Flaminio Modigliani and Eugenia Garsen. The Modigliani family comes from the rural area of the same name south of Rome. Amedeo's father had once traded coal and firewood, and now owned a modest brokerage office and, in addition, was somehow connected with the exploitation of silver mines in Sardinia. Amedeo was born just when officials came to his parents’ house to take away the property that had already been described for debts. For Eugenia Garsen, this was a monstrous surprise, since according to Italian laws, the property of a woman in labor is inviolable. Just before the arrival of the judges, the household hastily piled everything that was most valuable in the house onto her bed. In general, a scene took place in the style of Italian comedies of the 50s and 60s. Although in fact there was nothing funny in the events that shook the Modigliani house just before the birth of Amedeo, and the mother saw in them a bad omen for the newborn.
In his mother's diary, two-year-old Dedo received his first description: A little spoiled, a little capricious, but good-looking, like an angel. In 1895 he suffered a serious illness. Then the following entry appeared in my mother’s diary: Dedo had very severe pleurisy, and I had not yet recovered from the terrible fear for him. The character of this child is not yet sufficiently formed for me to express a definite opinion about him. Let's see what will develop from this cocoon. Maybe an artist? F - another significant phrase from the lips of the observant and passionately loving Evgenia Garsen.
At the beginning of 1906, among the young artists, writers, and actors who lived in Montmartre as a kind of colony, a woman appeared and immediately attracted attention. new figure. It was Amedeo Modigliani, who had just arrived from Italy and settled on the Rue Colancourt, in a small barn-workshop in the middle of a wasteland overgrown with bushes. He is 22 years old, he is dazzlingly handsome, his quiet voice seemed hot, his gait seemed flying, and his whole appearance seemed strong and harmonious.
In communicating with any person, he was aristocratically polite, simple and benevolent, and immediately endeared him to his spiritual responsiveness. Some said then that Modigliani - aspiring sculptor, others - that he is a painter. Both were true.
Bohemian life quickly attracted Modigliani. Modigliani, in the company of his artist friends (among them Picasso), became addicted to drinking, and was often seen walking the streets drunk, and sometimes naked.
He was called a homeless tramp. His restlessness was obvious. To some she seemed like an attribute of a good-for-nothing lifestyle, characteristic feature bohemians, others saw here almost the dictates of fate, and, it seems, everything agreed that this eternal homelessness was a blessing for Modigliani, because it unleashed his wings for creative flights.
His fights with men over ladies became part of Montmartre folklore. He used great amount cocaine and smoked marijuana.
In 1917, the artist's exhibition, containing mainly nude images, was closed by the police. It so happened that this exhibition was the first and last during the artist’s lifetime.
Modigliani continued to write until tuberculous meningitis brought him to the grave. While he was alive, he was known only in the Parisian artist community, but by 1922 Modigliani had gained worldwide fame.
Modigliani loved women, and they loved him. Hundreds, perhaps thousands of women have been in the bed of this elegant handsome man.
Back at school, Amedeo noticed that girls were paying attention to him. Special attention. Modigliani said that at the age of 15 he was seduced by a maid working in their house.
Although he, like many of his colleagues, was not averse to visiting brothels, the bulk of his mistresses were his models.
And during his career he changed hundreds of models. Many posed for him naked, interrupting several times during the session to make love.
Most liked Modigliani simple women, for example, laundresses, peasant women, waitresses.
These girls were terribly flattered by attention beautiful artist, and they obediently gave themselves to him.
Despite his many sexual partners, Modigliani loved only two women in his life.
The first was Beatrice Hastings, an English aristocrat, poetess, five years old older than the artist. They met in 1914 and immediately became inseparable lovers.
They drank together, had fun and often fought. Modigliani, in a rage, could drag her by the hair along the sidewalk if he suspected her of attention to other men.
But despite all these dirty scenes, it was Beatrice who was his main source of inspiration. During the heyday of their love, Modigliani created his best works. Still, this stormy romance could not last long. In 1916, Beatrice ran away from Modigliani. Since then they have not seen each other again.
The artist grieved for his unfaithful girlfriend, but not for long.
In July 1917, Modigliani met 19-year-old Jeanne Hebuterne.
The young student came from a French Catholic family. The delicate, pale girl and the artist settled together, despite the resistance of Jeanne’s parents, who did not want a Jewish son-in-law. Jeanne not only served as a model for the artist’s works, she lived with him for years serious illness, periods of rudeness and outright rowdy.
In November 1918, Jeanne gave birth to Modigliani’s daughter, and in July 1919 he proposed marriage to her “as soon as all the papers arrive.”
Why they never got married remains a mystery, since these two were, as they say, made for each other and remained together until his death 6 months later.
When Modigliani lay dying in Paris, he invited Jeanne to join him in death, “so that I could be with my beloved model in paradise and enjoy eternal bliss with her.”
On the day of the artist’s funeral, Zhanna was on the verge of despair, but did not cry, but was only silent the whole time.
Pregnant with their second child, she threw herself from the fifth floor to her death.
A year later, at the insistence of the Modigliani family, they were united under one gravestone. The second inscription on it read:
Jeanne Hebuterne. Born in Paris in April 1898. Died in Paris on January 25, 1920. Faithful companion of Amedeo Modigliani, who did not want to survive separation from him.
Modigliani and Anna Akhmatova
A. A. Akhmatova met Amedeo Modigliani in 1910 in Paris, during her honeymoon.
Her acquaintance with A. Modigliani continued in 1911, at which time the artist created 16 drawings - portraits of A. A. Akhmatova. In her essay about Amedeo Modigliani, she wrote: In 10, I saw him extremely rarely, only a few times. Nevertheless, he wrote to me all winter. (I remember several phrases from his letters, one of them: Vous etes en moi comme une hantise / You are like an obsession in me). He didn’t tell me that he wrote poetry.
As I now understand, what struck him most about me was my ability to guess thoughts, see other people’s dreams and other little things that those who know me have long been accustomed to.
At this time, Modigliani was raving about Egypt. He took me to the Louvre to see the Egyptian section and assured me that everything else was unworthy of attention. Drew my head in decoration Egyptian queens and dancers and seemed completely captivated by the great art of Egypt. Apparently Egypt was his latest hobby. Soon he becomes so original that you don’t want to remember anything when looking at his canvases.
He did not draw me from life, but at his home - he gave these drawings to me. There were sixteen of them. He asked me to frame them and hang them in my room. They died in a Tsarskoye Selo house in the first years of the revolution. Only one survived; unfortunately, it contains less anticipation of its future than the others."
