Long nude by Amedeo Modigliani …

“When I know your soul, I’ll paint your eyes.”

Amedeo Clemente Modigliani (1884 – 1920) was an Italian painter and sculptor whose portraits and nudes, characterized by asymmetrical compositions, elongated figures and monumental use of lines were among the most important portraits of the 20th century. Modigliani worked mainly in France.

The artist spent his youth in Italy, where he studied ancient and Renaissance art. In 1906 he moved to Paris, where he came into contact with several famous artists, such as Pablo Picasso and Constantin Brâncu?i.

In 1912 Modigliani exhibited a very stylish sculpture with Cubists from the “Section d’Or” group at the Salon d’Automne in Paris.

Modigliani was born and raised in a family of Jewish merchants.

As a child, he suffered from pleurisy and typhus, which prevented him from receiving conventional education. In 1898 Modigliani began studying painting. Having a very close relationship with his mother that encouraged him so much, the young artist became even more inspired to pursue his passion for art as his primary vocation. The artist is often found painting and drawing from an early age, discovering his love and skills in art and this all started before he even pursued formal studies.

When Modigliani was suffering from typhoid fever, he was inspired to visit Florence and see the astonishing paintings at the Uffizi and Palazzo Pitti and expressed his deep desire to visit those places. When he was recovering from his illness, his mother took him to Florence to see paintings from the Italian Renaissance.

Apart from taking a tour of the city, he received training from Guglielmo Micheli, a painting master in the city of Livorno, where Modigliani was born and spent his years as a child. During 1898 to 1900, Modigliani decided to spend several years at the Micheli School of the Arts.

This is where he has formal art instruction. This environment greatly supported his passion for art, and he acquired some very profound skills in 19th-century Italian art. Later, in his early works in Paris, it is evident that his works were largely influenced by his knowledge of Italian Renaissance art. Among several others, his inspirations included Leonardo da Vinci, Peter Paul Rubens, and Caravaggio.

In 1901, Modigliani spent some time in Rome and during this period he was also greatly inspired by the works of Domenico Morelli, whose works featured scenes and images from the Bible and literature.

After staying briefly in Florence in 1902, Modigliani continued his artistic studies in Venice, remaining there until the winter of 1906, when he left for Paris. His initial admiration for Italian Renaissance painting, especially of Siena’s, was to last his whole life.

In Paris Modigliani became interested in Paul Cézanne’s Post-Impressionist paintings. Important contacts were initially with poets André Salmon and Max Jacob, with the artist Pablo Picasso, and later with Paul Alexandre, a friend of many avant-garde artists and who was first attracted to Modigliani and to buy his works. In 1908 this artist exhibited five or six paintings at the Salon des Indépendants, presenting the Impressionists and Post Impressionists. In 1909 Modigliani met the Romanian sculptor Constantin Brâncu?i, on his suggestion that he seriously studied African sculpture.

To prepare himself for sculpting himself, he intensified his graphic experiments.

In his picture Modigliani tries to give the function of limiting or enclosing volume in its contours. In 1912 the artist exhibited at the Salon d’Automne eight stone heads whose elongated and simplified shapes reflect the influence of African sculpture. Experience with sculpture greatly influenced his paintings, as the characteristic head of the Modigliani statue, long neck and nose, simplified features and a long oval face characterize his paintings.

In 1917 Modigliani began a love affair with the young painter Jeanne Hébuterne, with whom he went to live on the Côte d’Azur. Their daughter, Jeanne, was born in November 1918. Her paintings become more refined in line and have subtle colors. However, the calmer life and Mediterranean climate, did not restore the artist’s damaged health. After returning to Paris in May 1919, he fell ill in January 1920, and 10 days later he died of tubercular meningitis. The next day Hébuterne killed herself and their unborn child jumped out of the window

Despite the frail health that accompanied him throughout his life, Modigliani became an emblematic figure for the Parisian art world, along with his colleagues Picasso and Constantin Brâncu?i. The women’s paintings