Amedeo Modigliani: Art in Human Hands

Amedeo Modigliani (1884–1920) was born in Livorno, from Sephardic Jews. His father is an impoverished money changer, there are cases of depression in the family, a brother is imprisoned. Mined by the tbc since he was a child, he is stubborn, independent, very good at drawing, he becomes a pupil of Guglielmo Micheli and knows Giovanni Fattori and Silvestro Lega.

He spends most of his life in Paris, a melting pot of culture, home to all experiments and avant-gardes. Here Amedeo embodies the icon of the cursed artist, living first in Montmatre and then in Montparnasse, coming into contact with Toulouse — Lautrec and Cézanne.

Without being a contemporary of Cubists, influenced by expressionist Fauvism, rather than by Impressionism, by the use of pure colour, by the abolition of chiaroscuro and perspective, by clear contours, Modì frequents Picasso and Utrillo, developing his own personal style, which draws on archaic and African suggestions.

He starts as a sculptor, creating stylized, Egyptian, primitive masks, but the dust aggravates his already ill lungs and he must choose painting, although he also writes poetry. His interest focuses on the human figure. In his work he is fast, he manages to finish a portrait in a couple of sessions and then he doesn’t touch it up anymore, but being painted by him, they say, is like “having your soul stripped”. His nudes are considered scandalous, his exhibitions are closed, his most beautiful paintings are sold for a few pennies.

He returns to Livorno in the summer of 1909, sickly and worn out, but leaves immediately for Paris again. All the money ends up in alcohol and drugs, he is romantically linked to several women — Beatrice Hastings, Lunia Czechowska — he has a natural son whom he does not recognize then, suddenly, love breaks out with Jeanne Hebuterne, the crazy passion of his short life.

Jeanne is beautiful, has blue eyes, long brown hair, a docile character and she paints with great sensitivity. Their souls are kindred, their love is one of those that go beyond death, they give birth to a daughter who is also called Jeanne.

Modigliani dies of tuberculous meningitis in the arms of the tormented Jeanne, pregnant in the ninth month. They make him a great funeral, which parades through the streets of Paris. The cart is covered with flowers, followed by a long procession of painters, sculptors, models, all the artists of Montmatre and Montparnasse gathered. The remains are buried at Pere Lachaise. Jeanne cannot stand up to separation, she cannot live without Amedeo, not even for her daughter Jeanne or her unborn child. She throws herself out the window and perishes with the creature she has in her lap. The family does not want any more scandals, has her buried in another cemetery, far from her loved one. It will be only in the thirties that authorization will be given to transfer her corpse and bury it close to Amedeo.

Her daughter Jeanne grew up in Florence, in the home of a paternal aunt, and, as an adult, wrote an important biography, “Modigliani senza leggenda” which, together with the book by Corrado Augias, “Modigliani, the last romantic”, is one of the main sources of information on the life of the missing painter. Also noteworthy is the 2004 film “Modigliani, the colours of the soul” by Mick Davis.

The daughter Jeanne dies falling from the stairs while discussing the authenticity of the heads found in the Fossi, suspicion of murder hovers over her end. The other son, the one not recognized by the painter, grows up in France and becomes a priest. The rest of the family is buried in Livorno, in the new Jewish cemetery where, in memory of Modì, there is only one plaque.

After Modigliani’s death, his works are sold for astronomical figures.