Artist Modigliani. Biography and paintings of Amedeo Modigliani, Italian impressionist artist

“Life is a gift: from the few to the many, from those who have it and who know what it is to those who do not have it and do not know it,” written by the hand of the author, Amedeo Modigliani, on the back of the portrait of Lunia Chekhovsk.

Why artist Amedeo Modigliani lived and died in poverty, and today his paintings are considered among the most expensive in the world? There are many talented artists, but only a few become cult figures. Reproductions from his paintings are placed on cosmetic and wine labels, haberdashery, dishes, and perfumes are named after him. The very life of this artist gives rise to legends: Modigliani, a handsome, elegant and witty representative of the artistic bohemia, died young, a string of women passed through his bed, he spent his days among alcohol and drugs in Parisian taverns, and rumors about his scandals and fights came out far beyond Montmartre. He signed his works “Modi,” which means “damned” in French. Biography of Modigliani – ready romantic melodrama, to which nothing needs to be added, the French director Jacques Becker in the late fifties of the last century invited Gérard Philippe to play the role of Modigliani in his film “19 Montparnasse”. The film cannot be called successful, but Gerard Philippe perfectly conveyed the plasticity of a sleepwalker inherent in Modigliani, and his gaze turned inward. By a strange coincidence, Gerard Philippe died just as young and became a myth after his death.

"Modigliani, the Jew"

Amedeo Modigliani was born on July 12, 1884 in Italian city Livorno in a wealthy family. The mother came from Sephardic Jews who at one time arrived from Tunisia to Marseille, she was well educated. By the time she was lying on the bed and was about to give birth to him, they entered the house bailiffs– his father went broke. According to ancient Italian custom, only things on the bed of a woman in labor were not subject to confiscation, so the household hastily carried all the most valuable things in the house onto the bed of the woman in labor. Modigliani's direct maternal ancestor was the famous thinker Baruch Spinoza. Modigliani’s grandfather was an encyclopedically well-read polyglot, had an excellent understanding of art and played first-class chess. Thanks to family traditions, Modigliani also received a diverse education, knowledge of ancient and modern literature, fluency in French. As a child, Amedeo became seriously ill and, in his delirium, saw prophetic visions that his calling was to be an artist.

He lived most of his life in his cosmopolitan hometown of Livorno, where there was no Jewish district. He was friends with many Jews: Chagall, Zadkine, Lipchitz, and most of all with 18-year-old Chaim Soutine, whom he took care of. In the first painting he exhibited at the Salon of Independents in 1908, among his five other works, he depicted a young Jewish woman. Without a hint of a foreign accent, the French language and atypical appearance for a Jew misled the French. Many took him for an Italian. But when meeting someone, the artist said: “Modigliani, a Jew.” With this, he immediately opposed anti-Semites and characterized himself as an outcast and an independent person. He wore Jewishness as chosenness, and not as involvement in certain traditions and culture.

Amedeo was 22 years old when he left hometown, came to Paris and settled in Montmartre.

Legendary Montmartre

In Montmartre, by the beginning of the 20th century, a special way of life had developed that attracted bohemians. A whole galaxy of brilliant artists was formed here, but the special spirit of this place also shaped them themselves. Previously, it was a very picturesque rural area, located near Paris, where living was much cheaper than in the capital. The works of famous people are associated with Montmartre French artists, 19th century - Sisley, Renoir, Manet, Degas, Van Gogh, Toulouse-Lautrec. It had its own carnival traditions: every year, for example, “ wedding ceremony" by artist Pulbo: the curled "groom" walked hand in hand with the one dressed in White dress bridesmaid Leona. Local loafers portrayed a pastor, a mayor, a priest, and even a wet nurse with cardboard breasts. In the end, they got married for real, but they did not abandon the tradition. Pulbo collected “living pictures”, and once he reproduced “The Last Cartridges” by A. Neuville, a military episode during the defense of Paris in 1870. The inhabitants of Montmartre “fought” all night in the surrounding forest, dressed as Zouaves, Marine soldiers, Algerian riflemen, Garibaldians, canteens and army prostitutes. In the end they “took” the Moulin de la Galette by storm. The inhabitants were scared to death and decided that the Germans had attacked Paris.

Aesthetes and snobs argue that drawings, for example, by Modigliani should be seen, albeit under glass, but live, under special museum lighting. It's stupid to argue. And no one argues. Let's believe the aesthetes and snobs. But let us humbly accept the truth that the path to entering art is mysterious.

The artists did not cook food at home - there were no conditions for this, so the centers where everyone gathered after a hard day at the easel were zucchini places like the "Frisky Rabbit" or "Black Cat". In those days, food preparation had not yet been put on stream, and therefore it was quite homemade, tasty and inexpensive. The poorest could get half a portion, and they could take the dish home. One of the taverns called "The Boys on the Hill" went bankrupt because the owner was forgiving talented artists debts. Modigliani became addicted to dining for free, but not all zucchini owners were so kind. Once a group of artists dined for free with the owner of an Italian tavern. Modigliani walked by. He had the expressive look of a man who cannot eat lunch. However, when he saw his acquaintances, he joined them, which completely infuriated the owner. Lunch is over big scandal, again thanks to Modigliani. He paid for drinks with the owner of one of the pubs, Rosalie, with his drawings and sketches. Rosalie patronized the poor artist, but was illiterate and lit the fireplace with these drawings, which is why only a few of the works donated to her have reached us.

Followers also met in Montmartre traditional art, who made a good living from book and magazine illustrations. Photography was not yet so well developed, and they had a lot of orders. But there were fewer and fewer rich and successful people in Montmartre. Depending on how the artist dressed, one could determine whether he was an innovator or a conservative. The innovators dressed in such a way as to shock conservatives and the bourgeois with their appearance: musketeer cloaks with hoods, Breton vests, dentist's smocks, on their feet - clogs or even barefoot, their hair tied with a cord, like the Indians. Contemporaries described a special wooden tie that adorned one young man, which, depending on the situation, served either as a baton or musical instrument– strings were stretched across it. Here is a typical sight of that time: the huge, bearded artist Diego Rivera walks with a confident gait, waving a cane with Aztec figurines. Next is the Russian artist Marevna in pink wide-brimmed hat, father's cape, bicycle breeches and black shoes. Modigliani recites lines from Dante's Inferno as he walks. Behind him is his friend the artist Soutine, flushed and beaming after a hearty lunch with libations. Next - Ehrenburg with a horse face, Voloshin, looking like a lion, Picasso and Max Jacob, one in a huge “Cubist coat”, a jockey cap on his head, the other in a fitted coat, black top hat, white gloves and leggings. Green suit, red vest, yellow shoes - this is what a typical inhabitant of the Montparnasse artist colony looked like. But the style that today is called “military” was especially popular; it was introduced into fashion by Degas: a straight jacket with a stand-up collar, large buttons, velor leg warmers with an elastic band at the ankle. The hairstyles were the most fantastic - from a crew cut to long curls, the same applied to the beard - from unkempt goatees to goatees. Picasso wore a mechanic's outfit: blue overalls, a cheap red cotton shirt with white polka dots, a red belt, sandals with rope soles. But no one could compete with Amedeo Modigliani in terms of elegance. He was irresistible in a beige velvet suit, which had acquired an original pearlescent sheen from endless washing, and a casually tied scarf. Modigliani had a manic love for cleanliness, but he only had one blue shirt, which he washed every day. Even after becoming completely addicted to alcohol and drugs, Modigliani remained just as elegant.

Modigliani in Montmartre

In Paris he changed addresses many times. Subsequently they said that this eternal homelessness was a blessing for Modigliani, because it unleashed his wings for creative flights. For some time he lived in a small workshop shed in the middle of a wasteland overgrown with bushes. Sometimes he even spent the night at the Saint-Lazare station, because the money sent from home was spent on hashish and booze. Modigliani and the artist Maurice Utrillo were the most famous alcoholic duo in Paris. They were part of Picasso’s company and it was believed that everyone in it was completely notorious drunkards and revelers, which was not true. It's just that brawlers like Modigliani were more visible. Dr. Alexander bought a house on Delta Street that was slated for demolition and set up a temporary artists' colony there. This kind angel of poor artists even furnished the slums with furniture from the Flea Market and hung red curtains on the windows. On the ground floor there was something like a gallery where artists could exhibit their work. Evenings were held here, which attracted audiences from all over Paris. Modigliani often visited and worked here. At that time, he was still interested in sculpture and obtained wood for this, stealing sleepers from the Barbès-Rochechouart station, which was then under construction. It soon turned out that Modigliani was not the best neighbor. He was constantly intoxicated - if not alcohol, then cocaine, hashish or ether. On the night of 1908, while preparing for a festive dinner, he set fire to the Christmas tree garlands. Once, during a dispute with the artists, having exhausted all arguments, he began to beat sculptures and tear up paintings. Modigliani was thrown out the door. The next morning he sobered up and came to ask for forgiveness, but he was no longer allowed in. The house was soon demolished anyway, and the artists' colony disintegrated. After wandering around for some time, he joined a group of tramps who voluntarily moved into an empty building on Douai Street. But even here he did not stay long, because even the beggars did not want to tolerate his antics. He also lived on Rue Joseph-Bar. One of those wonderful concierges who left an invisible mark on art worked here: a former model named Madame Solomon played the role of a strict nanny in this house. She nagged one for making noise in the workshop, another for getting drunk, and lent a third money or fed him.

Modigliani also lived in hotels: damp walls with mold stains, peeling wallpaper, gray sheets, chipped washbasins. According to an eyewitness, “there was a smell of poverty, cheap lodging and shameful diseases.” The owner of one of these hotels, Madame Escaffier, considered herself an instrument of virtue and kept an eye on the guests, preventing them from calmly indulging in debauchery. But after some time an explosion occurred in the hotel. A certain couple in love decided to commit suicide by opening the gas. Before his death, the guy decided to smoke... Kicked out of Madame Escaffier's hotel, Modigliani settled in another hotel. It seemed that it couldn’t be worse than Madame Escaffier’s, but even here the owner hid his brushes and paints, fearing that he would run away without paying. Modigliani once almost died when a huge piece of plaster fell from the ceiling. The owner returned all his property to him and said goodbye to him, without demanding payment - he was afraid that Modigliani would report it to the police.

In such conditions lived the artist, whose painting “Boy in a Blue Jacket” turned out to be the most expensive in the Sotheby’s gallery in 2004 - it went for 11.2 million dollars - twice the advertised price. This is not to say that no one foresaw Modigliani's future. Art dealer Clovis Sago had a nose for talent and acted as cynically as a hyena. In communication he was friendly and sweet, but he lay in wait for the artists until they found themselves in a hopeless situation. Then he exploited them in the most shameless way. The unfortunate artists were completely dependent on people like him. Having learned that Modigliani was dying in the hospital, Sago bought all his works from other dealers and loudly boasted about it. One elderly connoisseur of Modigliani’s works was completely... blind. He walked around the workshops, leaning on the shoulder of a girl who described what she saw in the painting. Without seeing the pictures, the old man chose them with fantastic precision. None of the artists offered him a doodle; they were ashamed to deceive the blind old man. Soon he found himself the owner of a unique collection of paintings.

Modigliani's women

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.

“Just imagine what happened to the ladies when they saw the handsome Modigliani walking along Montparnasse Boulevard with a sketchbook at his disposal, dressed in a gray velor suit with a picket fence of colored pencils protruding from each pocket, with a red scarf and a large black hat. I don’t know a single woman who would refuse to come to his workshop,” writes Lunia Czechowska.

Most of Modigliani's fights were over women. The flower girls and milkmaids depicted in Modigliani's paintings were his mistresses - even if only for one night. These girls were flattered by the attention beautiful artist. As Modigliani argued, to paint a portrait of a woman well, you need to sleep with her at least once. “How else would I be able to depict the mysterious rhythms of the female body,” he said, “and all the bulges and depressions that excite the male imagination? Sensuality in painting is as necessary as a brush and paints; without it, portraits turn out sluggish and lifeless.”

Amedeo found girls on dance floors, where Italian workers and petty criminals were seriously performing steps to the sounds of a harmonium. The painted ladies sniffled and moaned with excitement, clinging to their gentlemen. Modigliani often watched waltzing couples, trying to remember their facial expressions, poses and body movements. One day, for several weeks, he fell in love with a buxom prostitute, Elvira, nicknamed Quickie. She started out as a singer in a cafe, but became addicted to cocaine and lost her voice. She did not like drinking with Modigliani. Her portraits today have taken pride of place in the best art galleries.

But Modigliani truly loved only the journalist Beatrice Hastings and

student Jeanne Hebuterne. Beatrice was five years older than him. The relationship between the lovers was full of passion. They drank together every day, quarreled loudly and often fought. Modigliani, in a rage, could drag her by the hair along the sidewalk. But it was Beatrice who was his main source of inspiration, thanks to her Modigliani created his best works. Still this one whirlwind romance could not exist for long. In 1916, Beatrice ran away from Modigliani. Since then they have not seen each other again.

In 1917, Modigliani met nineteen-year-old Jeanne Hebuterne, a student at the Colarossi Academy. The girl and the artist settled together, despite the resistance of Jeanne’s parents, who did not want a Jewish son-in-law. For Amedeo, this year ended poorly: on December 3, the opening of Modigliani’s first and only lifetime solo exhibition took place at the Bertha Weil Gallery. Already during the opening day, the exhibition was prohibited and closed due to the scandalous nude figures exhibited there. And in 1918, Jeanne gave birth to a girl in Nice, whom Modigliani recognizes as his daughter. Jeanne not only served as a model for the artist’s works, she went through years of serious illness with him, endured his rudeness and scandals. Dying, Amedeo invited Jeanne to join him in death, “so that I could be with my beloved model in paradise and enjoy eternal bliss with her.” Modigliani died when Jeanne was already nine months pregnant with her second child. Without her beloved, life seemed meaningless to her; the day after his death, she threw herself down from the window of her parents’ house and crashed.

Many legends exist around Modigliani's relationship with Anna Akhmatova. They met in the Rotunda when Akhmatova arrived in Paris in Honeymoon. She was only 20 years old, and he was 26. For the first time, they did not communicate for long, because Gumilev, who understood everything, was nearby, calling him a “drunk monster.” He and Amedeo almost came to blows because Gumilyov spoke Russian to Akhmatova in front of him, and Modigliani was outraged by this. Throughout the next winter, Akhmatova and Modigliani corresponded, then Akhmatova again went to Paris. According to Akhmatova, over the course of a year Modigliani somehow became darker and haggard, and everything divine in him only sparkled through some kind of darkness. Akhmatova claimed that she did not pose naked for him; the drawings were his imagination: “He did not draw me from life, but at home - he gave these drawings to me.” Most of these drawings were lost; Akhmatova was left with one, which she considered her main wealth. She told her young secretary Anatoly Naiman: “Take Modi’s drawing under your arm and leave.” Nowadays, it turns out that three more drawings have survived: “Sleeping Nude with Standing male figure”, “Sleeping Nude” and “Standing Nude”. All three date back to 1910-1911. There is also an oil portrait of Akhmatova.

Lunatic

American journalist Bella Yezerskaya very accurately called Modigliani a sleepwalker, abstracted from the realities of life. He painted from morning to evening and most nights, not interested in the nature outside the window and the life around him, and in fact walked through life like a sleepwalker on a ledge, every minute at the risk of falling. Akhmatova recalled that he seemed to her to be surrounded by a dense ring of loneliness. She did not remember him saying goodbye to anyone in the Luxembourg Gardens or in Latin Quarter, where everyone more or less knew each other. She did not hear from him a single name of an acquaintance, friend or artist. Modigliani treated travelers with disdain. He believed that travel is a substitute for true action. Amedeo did not talk to Akhmatova about anything earthly. Modigliani loved to wander around Paris at night, and often, hearing his steps in the sleepy silence of the street, she would go to the window and, through the blinds, watch his shadow lingering under her windows. She was struck by how Modigliani found one obviously beautiful ugly person and really insisted on it. She already thought then: he probably sees everything differently from everyone else. He focused only on the person, finding his own way to generalize the figure and turn it into an image. According to researchers of Modigliani’s work A. Tolstoy and A. Mityushina, in his paintings, incredibly elongated heads on long, ideally shaped necks, with slightly outlined facial features, are like ancient gods. Modigliani painted only well-known, close, dear, or at least people he liked. As a true native of Italy, Modigliani admired physical beauty, found harmony between soul and flesh, and therefore beautiful body, exquisite form, graceful silhouette of the figure, as if containing the souls of his heroes - this is the essence of Modigliani himself. The artist’s “nudes,” the researchers further write, “look like some fragments of a fresco, painted not from specific models, but as if synthesized from many, many nude models. For Modigliani, they do not so much radiate sensuality and eroticism as a certain ideal of femininity in general. In this sense, we can say that Modigliani’s nudes are not just beautiful individuals female, but, rather, manifestations of a certain element, majestically and slowly unfolding before our eyes, but in no way dependent on us, but pictures living in space according to their own laws.”

His first name means "beloved of God," but Amedeo Modigliani's life was not a blessed one. Today, portraits and sculptures by Modigliani adorn the collections of the main museums in the world; he is one of the most famous artists XX century. Modigliani is loved, his paintings are worth millions. The artist who worked for eternity is not forgotten. But his life was spent in poverty and suffering, and its ending became a real tragedy.

Amedeo Modigliani. Self-portrait, 1919

Handsome, charismatic, consumptive, and unhappy, Modigliani was the embodiment of the Parisian artist, living his life in a haze of hashish and alcohol. The German artist Ludwig Meidner called him "the last true representative of bohemianism." When he died at 35, his pregnant mistress jumped out of a window, killing herself, her unborn child, and leaving their baby daughter orphan.

“Modigliani’s canvases will tell subsequent generations a lot. And I look, and in front of me is a friend of my distant youth. How much love he had for people, how much concern for them! They write and write: “he drank, he was rowdy, he died.” That’s not the point. It’s not even a matter of his fate, which is edifying, like an ancient parable...”

Ilya Erenburg

Trouble Begins

Modigliani was born in 1884 in the Italian town of Livorno, near Pisa. He was the fourth and most youngest child in the family of Flaminio Modigliani, a coal and wood merchant. The future artist was unlucky right away - in the year of his birth, his father went bankrupt.

At the age of 11, Modigliani fell ill with pleurisy, and in 1898 with typhus, which at that time was considered incurable. He recovered, but it was this illness that changed his life forever. According to the stories of his mother, while lying in a feverish delirium, Modigliani raved about masterpieces Italian masters and recognized his destiny to become an artist. After recovery, Amedeo's parents allowed him to leave school so that he could begin taking drawing and painting lessons at the Livorno Academy of Arts.

As a child, he was also diagnosed with tuberculosis, which eventually killed him. And yet he was a real handsome man and managed to achieve his short life break a lot of hearts.

Modigliani studied painting in his native Livorno, in Florence and at the Venice Institute of Arts. In 1906, when he turned twenty-two, Amedeo, with a small amount of money that his mother was able to raise for him, moved to Paris, which he had dreamed of for several years. At first he settled in a decent hotel, but very soon he moved to a tiny room in Montmartre.

The city made him poor, hungry, unhappy - and gave him inspiration. In the first years, he worked almost around the clock, drawing up to 150 sketches a day.

“Paris inspires me,” Modigliani wrote, “I am unhappy in Paris, but what is true is true - I can only work here.”

Modigliani, artist and Jew

“Modigliani, artist and Jew” - this is how Amedeo introduced himself to Anna Akhmatova in 1910. She said that their first meeting was like “the sting of a ringing wasp,” and many years later she wrote in an essay about the artist: “I knew that such a person should shine.”

They read poetry to each other French poets, went to the Louvre to see the Egyptian section, walked around Paris at night. Modigliani drew pencil portraits of Anna Andreevna, and a gray-eyed man appeared in Akhmatova’s poems of 1910 and 1911 lyrical hero. There is even a version that the famous Gray-Eyed King himself is none other than Modigliani.

Anna Akhmatova in Modigliani's drawing

They were not destined to be together for long. Akhmatova had to return to her husband in Russia. The lovers parted forever.

For four years from 1910, Modi was engaged mainly in sculpture, only occasionally returning to painting, but with the outbreak of war, new construction in Paris ceased, and it was almost impossible to get stone.

Modigliani's final turn to painting coincides with a new novel - with Beatrice Hastings, a bisexual British journalist. They spent two very tumultuous years together before she left him, unable to watch him destroy himself with binge drinking.

Amedeo Modigliani. Portrait of Beatrice Hastings

Beatrice was a very extraordinary woman - a bright intellectual, sarcastic and independent. Details of their romance, found in descriptions of contemporaries, include violent quarrels and even fights.

When Hastings left, Modigliani became involved with the tender young Simone Theroux, who bore him a son, but Amedeo refused to recognize him as hers.

The Last Muse and Shakespeare's Finale

In April 1917, Modigliani met nineteen-year-old student Jeanne Hebuterne. Blue-eyed and with pigtails, "she was basically pregnant for most of the time they lived together." Her parents were horrified that her chosen one was a poor alcoholic and drug addict, and also a Jew - and disowned their daughter.

Amedeo Modigliani. Portrait of Jeanne Hebuterne

Modigliani dedicated the most works to Jeanne Hébuterne, and it is her face that we will most likely remember when we talk about portraits by the “last bohemian artist of Paris.” Unfortunately, the girl’s love could no longer save Amedeo, although it inspired him to create many masterpieces.

Photographs of Jeanne Hebuterne and her portraits by Modigliani

By the time you meet your the last muse, Modigliani had been a heavy drinker for many years, starting his morning with a glass or pipe of hashish. They lived very poorly: the artist’s paintings were almost never sold. Part of the reason for this was his exceptionally bad character. The audience's lack of understanding infuriated Modigliani (“Why are there eyes without pupils?” they asked. “Why such huge necks?”). But he managed to scare off even those few collectors who were interested in his paintings with his outright rudeness.

There is a well-known story about how one rich young lady bought a Modigliani drawing and discovered that it was not signed. The girl approached the artist in a cafe and asked him to sign the work. But Modigliani was not in a good mood. He took a pen and wrote his name over the drawing, ruining it and frightening the customer.

The artist died penniless in a charity hospital from tuberculous meningitis. His pregnant wife jumped out of the window. Their one year old daughter remained an orphan. The girl, also named Jeanne, was adopted by Modigliani's sister. But that was all that was left in the family from genius artist: he exchanged every sketch, every painting for food, alcohol and rent.

But rumors of a tragedy in the spirit of Shakespeare instantly spread across Paris, collectors began hunting for the artist’s paintings, and the portraits he painted became famous. Now they belong to art dealers, who sell them at steadily rising prices. In 2015, a Modigliani painting was sold for a record $170 million at Christie’s.

All her life Jeanne studied her father, his fate, drawings and paintings. The result of her work is a large biography “Modigliani: Man and Myth.”

Based on materials: tanjand.livejourna, modernartconsulting, booknik

The 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 of 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 forming as a person and as an artist gave the world many talented masters. During this period, the attitude towards the art of the past was revised, and new artistic movements and directions were formed. 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. Only a few landscapes survived in his creative heritage, 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.

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 antique art and the work 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 genre paintings did not interest the artist. Modigliani often turned to the works of representatives of the Renaissance, as well as to the popular at that time African art. 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.

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), was 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 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 that 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 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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The memory of the Italian artist Amadeo Modigliani is imprinted in his strange nickname Modi (from the French maudit - “damned”), which is both diminutive and prophetic. Everything that Modigliani received after his tragic death was so lacking during his lifetime: success, fame, critical approval.

On his birthday, July 12, we will try to tell the story of the artist, keeping in mind, however, that the last page of his biography was closed by a tragic and early death.

Amadeo Modigliani was born in the Italian city of Livorno in 1884. Today there is a memorial plaque on the house that once belonged to the Modigliani family.

His mother Eugenia Garsen played an important role in Amadeo’s life. She recalls that her son first voiced his desire to become an artist at the age of 14, being on the verge of life and death, in a dangerous attack of typhoid fever: “And suddenly - a subconscious desire, expressed in delirium. Never before this moment had he spoken of what he might have imagined a pipe dream" (In the photo is the artist’s mother Evgenia Garsen.)

A serious illness was the impetus for the awakening of a wonderful artistic gift. Evgenia promised her son to invite an art teacher as soon as he recovered. And strangely enough, the patient began to recover very quickly.

“He does nothing but paint, with an extraordinary ardor that surprises and delights me... His teacher is very pleased with him,” writes Eugenia a few months after Amadeo began taking painting lessons.

At the age of 17, Amadeo Modigliani enrolled in the Free Academy of Nude Drawing in Florence. For well-meaning ordinary people of that era, the academy seemed a refuge of laziness and idleness, but the future artist cared little about other people's opinions. (In the photo - a view of Cathedral Santa Maria del Fiore, Florence.)

A year later, Modi went to Venice, where he continued his painting studies. Here he meets the Chilean artist Manuel Ortiz de Zarate, who until his last day remained among Amadeo's devoted friends. (Pictured is a pencil portrait of Manuel Ortiz de Zarate by Amadeo Modigliani.)

Before coming to Venice, Manuel for a long time lived in Paris. It was he who told Amadeo about the temptations of the French capital, about the extraordinary freedom of the local society, the atmosphere of Montmartre, new artistic movements, the elegant grace of the streets, the comfort of cafes and the illusory lightness of Parisian life.

Amadeo Modigliani left for Paris on a cool January day in 1906. This journey was painful and contradictory for him: on the one hand, a sweet moment of fulfillment of a desire, and on the other, a feeling of breakdown and parting with the past.

Modi spoke excellent French, a language his mother taught him as a child. He was dressed with elegance, perhaps even somewhat pompous and clearly dissonant with the image of the artist. Amadeo voted, calling the cab, loaded his luggage and gave the address of the hotel in the very center. At first, he wore a chic black suit, carefully tailored to his figure, with a white shirt and tie under his jacket. The outfit was completed with a walking cane, which was constantly in the way; Modigliani awkwardly twirled it in his hands or carried it under his arm.

During the first two weeks of his stay in Paris, Modigliani constantly changed hotels, moving from place to place (which seemed to be a sign of deep anxiety), until he finally settled on the Montmartre hill, famous place artists' habitat. The hill was green with vegetable gardens and vineyards and gray with barracks and windmills; a rural way of life reigned here. (Pictured - Montmartre, 1907.)

If the statement is true that “you only really own the money you spend,” then Modigliani, even in poverty, was a rich man. He immediately threw everything he had into the wind. Such thoughtless spending of funds gave rise to rumors about his prosperity, but these conversations quickly faded away. The supposed wealth turned out to be only his mother's small savings.

As was the custom of that time, almost all the artists of Montmartre were in a state of poverty. They led a disorderly and chaotic life, but Amadeo stood out even against their background: he constantly got into trouble and scrapes, and his figure began to acquire an aura of legends even during his lifetime. Within a few months of his Parisian life, Modigliani turned from a modest youth into one of the most famous alcoholics of Montmartre.

They told, for example, how one evening Modigliani appeared drunk at the cabaret “The Agile Rabbit” (one of favorite places gathering of the artistic bohemia of that time) and provoked a general fight, during which the dishes shattered into pieces. From that moment on, the owner of the establishment no longer allowed Modi to enter the door. (In the photo - the Agile Rabbit cabaret.)

Amadeo Modigliani's drinking style denied any ritual; he drank hastily, in large sips, without feeling any pleasure from what he drank. In a short time he became addicted to. It seems that alcohol helped the artist overcome his natural shyness, which the drunken Amadeo tried to hide under the mask of cheeky impudence.

A mutual addiction to alcohol and joint drinking sessions contributed to the establishment of a trusting relationship between Amadeo Modigliani and his artist friend. “It was sad to see them hugging each other in some kind of unstable balance, one could barely stand on his feet, the other was also about to somersault,” recalled art critic Andre Varno. Picasso once, seeing two friends, dryly remarked: “Next to Utrillo, Modigliani is already drunk.” (Pictured is Maurice Utrillo.)

At the end of 1907, Amadeo Modigliani met his first real philanthropist, Paul Alexandre, a young doctor who was only three years older than him. Paul made the artist feel that he appreciated his talent, calmed him down, softened him Negative consequences Many of his antics, he helped a lot by providing Modigliani with a place to work, buying paintings and drawings, and negotiating with models. (Pictured is a portrait of Paul Alexandre by Amadeo Modigliani.)

With the outbreak of the First World War, life in Paris changed; many artists did not remain aloof from the general mobilization. Amadeo Modigliani, who proclaimed himself a socialist and opponent of war, longed to go to the front, but was rejected by a military doctor who refused to recognize him as fit for service due to poor health. Modigliani's Italian pride was wounded, and he reacted in his characteristic manner - he began to consume even more alcohol and hashish. (Pictured - Paris, 1915.)

Modigliani understood that the feeling he most often instilled in people was best case scenario compassion, and at worst - rejection and hostility, but he couldn’t help himself. Those around him were already so accustomed to his image of a drunkard, barely able to stand on his feet and ready to trade his drawings in exchange for a glass of wine, that Amadeo did just that, demonstrating what in psychology is called “expected behavior.”

In February 1917, Modigliani met Jeanne Hebuterne, a woman who shared his fate for a short time, remaining close to the end. The artist at that time was thirty-three years old, Zhanna was nineteen. (Pictured is Jeanne Hebuterne.)

Some light on the nature of the relationship between Jeanne and Amadeo is shed by the memoirs of contemporaries: “Intoxicated, he sits on a bench, not knowing what to do, where to go. Jeanne appears from the Boulevard Montparnasse. She is wearing a coat and holding a warm scarf in her hands. Looking around anxiously, she finally noticed him, sat down next to him and tied a scarf around his neck - after all, he had a cough and a high temperature. Modi is silent, putting his arm around her shoulders, and they freeze in this position for a long time, huddled against each other and not saying a word. Then, still hugging each other, they go home together.” (In the photo is a portrait of Jeanne Hebuterne by Amadeo Modigliani.)

Leopold Zborovsky, who at that time was a patron of the arts to Amadeo Modigliani, was very pleased with the appearance of Jeanne in Modi’s life and hoped that she would have an impact on him positive influence, will force you to take care of your health and refuse bad habits. This hope, however, turned out to be in vain. (In the photo is a portrait of Leopold Zborowski by Amadeo Modigliani.)

In the late autumn of 1917, the owner of the prestigious gallery, Bertha Weil, announced that she was organizing Modigliani’s first solo exhibition. Wanting to attract visitors, Leopold Zborowski put a couple of nudes on display, which gave an instant effect that exceeded the patron’s wildest expectations. A lot of people crowded around the window, indignant cries were heard, and someone began to comment on what they saw with dirty jokes.

The gallery where this first took place personal exhibition Modigliani, very unfortunately located near the police station. The commotion attracted the attention of the commissioner, who sent to see what was happening, and as a result of this raid, he ordered the owner of the gallery to immediately close the exhibition.

This first and last lifetime exhibition of Modigliani nevertheless served Amadeo well. The scandal that accompanied its closure became widely known in Paris, and the artist's name was on everyone's lips. The years of war did not contribute to the development of the art market, so such involuntary advertising did its job - people began to buy Modigliani’s paintings.

On November 29, 1918, Jeanne Hebuterne gave birth to a daughter, she, like her mother, was named Jeanne. Amadeo was so happy that, upon leaving the hospital, he told everyone who crossed his path about the newborn. Then he decided to celebrate this event in a bistro, and when he came to the office to register the birth of a girl, its doors were closed. (Pictured is Jeanne, daughter of Amadeo Modigliani.)

So, the last act of the drama. On January 1, 1920, Leopold Zborowski, concerned about Modigliani's health, locked him at home and kept him in bed. The artist loudly demanded to be released and eventually ran down the fire escape. But it had to happen that Maurice Utrillo, released from a psychiatric hospital, came across Modigliani. Joy, hugs, a stormy feast, which began in the bistro and continued at Amadeo’s house, where Zhanna, pregnant with her second child, had meanwhile arrived.

The next day Modigliani drank again and wandered around the cold, deserted streets. A group of friends tried to persuade Amadeo to return home to Jeanne, but he did not want to listen to anything, and then began to insult those around him, swearing, shouting that he had no friends and never had. Then he suddenly sat down on an ice bench and invited everyone to follow his example. Modi then saw a pier in the port of Livorno. The exhausted artist was delirious.

Lately, Modigliani has been increasingly experiencing clouds of reason: in his delirium, he talked with imaginary people, and in illuminated cars rushing along the boulevard he saw Chinese dragons.

On January 25, accompanied by her father, Jeanne Hebuterne came to the hospital to say goodbye to Modigliani, and that same night she committed suicide by stepping out of the bedroom window into parental home. Zhanna was nine months pregnant.

While Amadeo's funeral was very solemn, the same cannot be said about Jeanne's burial. In vain did the friends try to convince the girl’s parents to bury the young people in the same grave. This proposal was completely rejected by the Hebuternes.

However, just two years later, Jeanne's remains were moved to Modi's grave on Paris cemetery Père Lachaise. Gravestone stores last entry in the book of their lives, made on Italian: “Amadeo Modigliani. Artist. Born in Livorno on July 12, 1884. Died in Paris on January 24, 1920. Death overtook him on the eve of fame.
Jeanne Hebuterne. Born in Paris on April 6, 1898. Died in Paris on January 25, 1920. Faithful companion of Amadeo Modigliani, who sacrificed her life to him.”