Modigliani

Italian Jewish artist Amedeo Modigliani (1884 – 1920) is best known for his figurative paintings characterized by their surreal elongated body parts and blank eyes. He was born in Livorno, Italy, at time when his father who had been a successful businessman lost his fortune. Amedeo was very close to his mother, who taught him until he was 10 years old. She undertook to enrol him in painting classes in Livorno with famous Guglielmo Micheli four years later. There he studied the art of antiquity and the Renaissance.

In 1906 he moved to Paris, the focal point of the artistic avant-garde at that time. There he met artists such as Constantin Brâncuși and Pablo Picasso. By 1912 Modigliani was exhibiting strongly stylized sculptures together with Cubists painters at the Salon d’Automne. Modigliani’s first and only solo exhibition was organised in 1970, including a series of nudes, which are now among his most famous paintings. The exhibition is considered “notorious” in modern art history for its sensational public reception.

Having initially devoted himself to painting and drawing, Modigliani’s oeuvre also includes many sculptures, which he worked on between 1909 to 1914. As in his paintings, he focused on depicting full figures with elongated necks and arms.

Modigliani died in Paris when he was only 35 years old in poverty, the reason being a combination of alcohol and narcotics overuse and tuberculosis. During his lifetime, Modigliani had only little success. Since his death, however, Modigliani’s reputation soared rapidly. Besides the popularity of his artwork, nine novels, a play, a documentary, and three feature films have been devoted to his life.