Modì

Amedeo Modigliani (1884–1920) was born in Livorno from Sephardi Jews. His father is an impoverished money changer, there are cases of depression in the family, a brother is jailed. Undermined by TB from an early age, he is stubborn, independent, very good at drawing, he becomes a pupil of Guglielmo Micheli and meets Giovanni Fattori and Silvestro Lega.

Most of his life sees Paris as a theater, a melting pot of culture, the seat of 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.

Contemporary of the Cubists without being so, influenced by expressionist Fauvism rather than impressionism, by the use of pure color in an emotional as well as constructive function, by the abolition of chiaroscuro and perspective, with clear outlines, Modì frequents Picasso and Utrillo, developing his own personal style that draws on archaic and African suggestions.

He starts as a sculptor, creating stylized, Egyptian, primitive masks, but the dust aggravates his already sick lungs and has to orient himself on painting, although he also writes poetry. His interest is focused 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 retouch it anymore, but being painted by him, they say, is like “having your soul undressed”. 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. The little money all end up in alcohol and drugs, he is romantically linked to several women — Beatrice Hastings, English writer, Lunia Czechowska — has a natural child who he does not recognize then, suddenly, love breaks out with Jeanne Hebuterne, the crazy passion of all his short life.

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

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

The daughter Jeanne grew up in Florence, in the house of a paternal aunt, and, as an adult, wrote an important biography, “Modigliani without legend” 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 film “Modigliani, the colors of the soul”, from 2004, by Mick Davis.

His daughter Jeanne dies falling down the stairs while discussing the authenticity of the heads found in the ditches, the 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 a tombstone.

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