Amedeo Modigliani (1884-1920) was an Italian painter and sculptor whose works were of little use to anyone during his lifetime, but now cost fabulous money. Perhaps he was just ahead of his time, not by chance his biography of him in some ways resembles the story of an unrecognized genius, who was appreciated only after his death. We will talk in this article about Modigliani's bright but, unfortunately, so short life and his amazing paintings and sculptures.
Amedeo Modigliani. Self-portrait.
In general, Modigliani's work is difficult to categorize - well, it does not fit into the usual framework of a certain artistic direction. Most experts still attribute it to expressionism, his paintings are surprisingly similar to sculptures, as if not being able to mold, he tried to depict them on the canvas.
Portrait of a woman in a blue dress
He was also a true artist, with a strange and unusual way of life that was too much even for Montparnasse, which had seen it all. He drank absinthe more than anyone else, was more promiscuous than Toulouse-Lautrec himself, was the poorest and most unfit for real life among all Montmartre artists - a kind of Italian Michael Vrubel, living in Paris, a lover of scandals and violent confrontations, not afraid of either the police or the powers that be, like our Vasily Vereshchagin.
Sometimes for lunch and drinks in Parisian cafes, he paid with his paintings, here you can only envy the owners of these institutions, just a dozen years they had enough to sell his paintings and a trouble-free existence is assured. But who could have thought then that his works would be so expensive?
Madame Zborovskaia
And it also seemed that there was some kind of curse over him, which would inevitably lead both the artist himself and his loved ones to the grave. Unfortunately, this is what happened, and Modigliani's love story is no less tragic than his strange and early end of life.
Modigliani was born in the Italian town of Livorno into a large Jewish family - he was the fourth, most desirable child. In the beginning, the family was quite well off, but then things went badly, and at the time when his mother went into labor, came bailiffs to describe the property of a ruined father. We had to move all the valuables and jewelry to the bed in labor - according to Italian law, it was inviolable and could not fear that the bailiffs took them away. So, Amedeo and was born - surrounded by jewelry, which then very useful to his mother Eugenia Garsen. She used them to open a private school, which soon became the best in Livorno.
Portrait of Madame Amedee
When Amedeo grew up he spoke with admiration and love about his mother, but almost never about his father - he was weak, after his bankruptcy, he abandoned his business, moping and often drank. The role of the father for Amedeo took on a grandfather, who instilled in him a love of painting.
Amedeo was very sickly - in childhood he suffered from pleurisy, then typhoid fever, but even in a feverish delirium asked to give him brushes and paints. At the age of 14, he abandoned regular school and entered an art studio.
And at 16, Amedeo fell ill with tuberculosis. It required a change of climate and his mother went with her son to Rome and Naples. There Modigliani familiarized himself with the works of the old masters, a lot of drawing and at the same time whisked away for girls. After improving his health, Modigliani began to study in Venice, and according to many researchers of his life, it was there that he first took drugs.
Modigliani came to France in 1906. Then Paris was the main city for artists and lovers of painting - the leading artists of the time created there: impressionists Edgar Degas, Claude Monet, Pierre Renoir and others. At first, Henri had a lot of money - not his own, from his mother, and he lived on a high - in the most expensive hotel, and drank wildly. Then the money ran out, had to rent a cheap room in Montparnasse and save on the quality of booze, but not at all on the quantity. By the way, it was Modigliani and Maurice Utrillo who were the main scandalizers and alcoholics in the neighborhood.
Portrait by Frans Hellens.
And Modigliani drank a lot - at first to feel confident, then to avoid disappointment in life. He longed for fame, fame, but his paintings were not needed, people simply did not notice them.
In 1909 Modigliani became a sculptor, like his buddy Constantin Brancusi. But only health and strength to create sculptures in Modigliani was not enough - sickly by nature, he even more it shook his dissolute lifestyle and alcoholic revelry. But thanks to sculpture Modigliani developed his own style in painting - nothing similar, but recognizable now at first sight. People in his portraits something like sculptures - they have flat and elongated faces, elongated necks and noses. There was no careful drawing, fanciful play of light and shadow, although Henri could have painted in the classical manner if he wanted to, he just did not want to do it.
The road
If you are unlucky in money, you will be lucky in love. Modigliani proved the justice of this dubious saying by his own experience. He was very attractive to women - modeling after posing usually stayed with the artist for the night. He had many mistresses, even our famous poet Anna Akhmatova could not resist his charms. Then she came to Paris on a wedding trip with her husband Nikolai Gumilyov, then met Modigliani. Gumilev having learned about it from the sin away decided to leave Paris with her as soon as possible.
The first true love for Modigliani was the poet Beatrice Hastings. Here two passionate temperaments came together - and in their relationship was taken to the extreme. In moments of tenderness, they danced naked in Montmartre, paying no attention to anyone, and Henri was exhausted, trying to satisfy Beatrice, characterized by irrepressible desires.
Sitting naked.
But they also scandalized terribly, their screams were heard throughout Montmartre. The relationship lasted only a year, but it is unlikely that Modigliani and Hastings would have endured them for a longer time - too much passion and energy they took away.
Portrait of Beatrice Hastings
Well, the main woman for Modigliani was Jeanne Ebuterne - a 19-year-old unassuming girl who, unlike others, did not try to change him - she realized that it was useless, and took Modigliani as he really was.
Portrait of Jeanne Hébuterne
He also drank, used drugs, he had no money - even when he managed to sell a painting, he drank all the proceeds with his buddies - Modigliani had almost no real friends, sometimes beat his girlfriend, but still treated Jeanne with tenderness and love. By the way, Modigliani wrote a lot of portraits in the style of Nude, but none of them was not Jeanne. He singled her out from his sitters, and sometimes they just sat together in a cafe and clung to each other, as if looking for support from such a practical and cruel world, which did not care about the unrecognized artist and his unassuming girlfriend.
Modigliani died in a hospital for the poor, leaving his girlfriend nine months pregnant. She did not cry, but simply went to the window of the sixth floor and made a small step, which turned out to be the last in her life. And when Modigliani was buried, the coffin was followed by many people who yesterday chased him away from everywhere and laughed at him.
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