Amedeo Modigliani, one of the most famous Italian artists, was born in Livorno in the distant past 1884. He will be part of an important cultural generation and will come into contact with the greatest European painters of the twentieth century. Modigliani had since adolescence Health problems, his precarious conditions resulted in severe attacks at the age of 14 tuberculosis, which forced him to spend a lot of time painting during long periods of hospitalization. Amedeo was the youngest of four children and everyone at home called him by the nickname of Modi o Finger.
Modigliani's first paintings: inspired by the Macchiaioli
During his adolescence, spent at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, in Tuscany was born and developed the artistic movement of Macchiaioli. Modigliani approached this movement driven by his great passion for painting, with the aim of developing his genius. After a long hospital stay that forced him to bed for months, he convinced his mother to let him attend the studio of William Micheli. Born into a bourgeois family, Modigliani lived the economic collapse of the father's company. His mother made enormous sacrifices to allow him to attend the Livorno painter's studio, but was rewarded for all his efforts. Guglielmo Micheli was one of the students favorites of the famous Livorno painter John Factors, which gave the stylistic foundations to the very young Modigliani. Modigliani soon understood that the Tuscan movement had to be renewed, he felt the need to abolish all that "old and putrid" was left.
Amedeo Modigliani in Paris: international fame
Amedeo Modigliani was a little disappointed by theclosed and provincial environment of Livorno, even though he remained tied to it all his life. To bring a little stylistic innovation to his paintings, the Livorno-based artist decided to move to Paris, the most popular artistic destination by painters of the twentieth century. In France the genius of Modigliani quickly established himself. He decided to follow in the footsteps of Picasso since, starting from cubist movement, he could have created a disruptive style of his own. Modigliani in France began a new stylistic phase: thanks to Picasso a clear break had been created with regard to bourgeois impressionist art. In Paris he also ventured into the creation of sculptures primitive with good results, but the powders of the ceramics and stones ended up worsening his health conditions.
Modigliani's portraits: a painting of the soul
Abandoning sculpture due to health problems, Amedeo Modigliani devoted himself body and soul to painting. Even today they are his portraits are famous, which seem to “steal the soul” of the clients. In this more mature phase the Livorno painter was able to create one unique style: what he had learned in sculpture he reproduced on canvas. Between 1913 and 1917 the mix of styles and techniques learned during his early youth finally found expression, creating the pictorial genius of Modigliani. The fame of the Italian painter in Paris began to grow more and more, many famous clients they began to want a portrait signed by Modigliani. Among the famous people portrayed by Modigliani we can include Pablo Picasso, Moise Kisling, Diego Rivera and Max Jacob, as well as the young writer Jean Cocteau.
The nudes of Amedeo Modigliani: the most intense pictorial phase
Between 1916 and 1917, a few years after his death, Modigliani committed himself to phase of the great nudes to which his was dedicated first Parisian exhibition. This show caused a real scandal. The police chief was outraged by theimmorality of the paintings, So he had the Gallery closed two hours before opening. There is no doubt about the beauty of the paintings from this last period. Modigliani abandoned the portraiture of faces to devote himself to the painting of naked bodies famous all over the world. One of the most famous nude models was his very young wife, the nineteen year old Jeanne Hebuterne, with whom he also had a son before he died.
Amedeo Modigliani died in 1919 because of his life devoted to art and vices, which led him to worsen his precarious health conditions. Jeanne, his nine months pregnant young wife, could not bear the loss: committed suicide jumping from the fourth floor of his parents' building.
