What connected Modigliani with Akhmatova and other little-known facts about the genius unrecognized during his lifetime

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

His life was bright and eventful. He did not hesitate to be naked in public, he loved to drink and wave his fists, getting involved in another fight. He had a beloved wife, but this in no way prevented him from changing women much more often than brushes. Amedeo Modigliani dreamed of becoming a sculptor, but without finding support from the outside, he became an artist, whose works today stand like a fortune.

1. Birth

The father of the future artist was a businessman: he sold coal and firewood, ran a mine and even had his own brokerage office. But by the time their fourth son was born, he was bankrupt. The bailiffs knocked on the door of the family home just at the moment when the wife began to give birth: they came to impose a foreclosure on the property of the failed businessman. But the family managed to discourage creditors from paying off the debt.

Then, according to Italian law, creditors could not seize the bed of a pregnant woman or a mother with a newborn child. Waiting for the officials and little Amedeo, Flaminio simply put the most valuable property of his family (which could save them from hunger and suffering in the future) on the bed of his pregnant wife.

However, the child's mother, Eugénie Garcin, interpreted everything differently. The woman considered the bailiffs who broke into the house during childbirth as a bad sign not only for her, but also for her unborn child. Unfortunately, she turned out to be right: a lot of trials will fall on her son from a serious illness to addiction to drugs and alcohol, and fame will come to him only after his death. He lived a short, but bright life, full of interesting acquaintances and not only.

2. Obsession with painting

Amedeo grew up in an educated family and, having received an excellent education, could not boast of an easy disposition, and his mother soothingly justified her son's stubbornness, indulging him in every possible way.

In the midst of a typhoid epidemic, Amedeo contracted the infection, and, delirious, tirelessly praised the work of the Italian craftsmen, repeating that he would not die until he visited the Uffizi Gallery.

As soon as the future artist got better and finally recovered, he immediately entered an art school to study.

3. Almost like Van Gogh

The temperamental Italian had a lot in common with the Dutch artist Vincent Van Gogh. They were both famous for their bad behavior, constantly getting involved in fights and skirmishes, and only after death were they able to gain universal recognition and glory. However, none of them disdained to pay with their masterpieces for food and drink, which are more expensive today.

Amedeo could easily give a pencil sketch for a cup of coffee, considering it in the order of things a normal gesture. Therefore, he never really managed to make a decent fortune and find out how valuable and expensive his work has become today.

4. Priceless nudity

Just eight years ago, the owner of the AS Monaco football club added one of Modigliani's most expensive paintings to his collection by buying Lying Nude with a Blue Pillow for one hundred and eighteen million dollars.

But in 2015, the Chinese billionaire bought another work of the genius artist, having paid one hundred and eighty million dollars for the painting "Nu Couche", which significantly exceeded the estimated value, making this work of art one of the most expensive among other works by the author.

5. He dreamed of becoming a sculptor

Few people know that Amedeo had a special passion for sculpture and dreamed of becoming a sculptor, not an artist. It is believed that one day, in the midst of a summer evening, he went for a walk and, having stumbled upon a huge stone at a construction site nearby, decided to turn it into a sculpture. But the workers who came to work in the morning did not appreciate his creations and used it as a foundation for a part of the future building.

So, the unrecognized sculptor, rejected by his contemporaries, began to follow the path of painting, depicting some of the objects of his work as if they were carved out of stone.

6. In life and in death

He lived a rather bright and eventful life, but died of tuberculous meningitis at the age of thirty-five. His muse, mistress and failed wife - Jeanne Hébuterne, unable to bear the loss, committed suicide the next day.

Saying goodbye to her lover, she put a lock of hair in his coffin, and then, upset with grief, went to her parents' house and, after washing herself at midnight, threw herself out the window, sparing neither herself nor her unborn child (at that time she was eight months pregnant).

Despite the fact that this woman was his greatest love, this in no way prevented the artist from having and changing mistresses much more often than brushes …

7. Mysterious connection with Anna Akhmatova

She arrived in Paris from Russia, and he from sunny Italy. Anna came on a honeymoon trip, and he - to gain fame. But as soon as they met each other, life began to sparkle with new colors. Walking in the rain, they recited Paul Verlaine.

The poetess in every possible way denied their connection, but at the same time often mentioned the closeness with the artist, thereby puzzling most historians and art critics. But be that as it may, Amedeo was inspired enough to create a series of works dedicated to Akhmatova. And she, in turn, had enough inspiration to devote poetry to him, although she also denied this.

By the way, he never painted Anna from life. They could walk for hours, read poetry and have long conversations, and then he returned to the workshop, took a pencil and made sketches. It was on this version that the poetess insisted.

8. Eccentricity

One Christmas, he tried on a Santa Claus costume and from the bottom of his heart began to treat the visitors of the Rotunda cafe with marshmallows. But after a crowd of distraught little people almost burned the room to hell, law enforcement agencies found out that the reason for everything that was happening was hashish.

And this was not the only case when the artist came off to the fullest. He was a very specific and eccentric person who loved to quote Nietzsche, wear a red scarf and wide-brimmed hat, undress in public, go to the cemetery at night and revel as if he was living his last day on earth.

There were many opinions and versions around his addiction to alcohol and drugs. Rumor has it that in this way he tried to forget himself, thereby distracting himself from the disease. Others said that such behavior was part of his rebellious spirit and style, and art critic Andre Salmon even argued that the artist's unique style was the result of his alcoholism and drug addiction. He believed that the cold-blooded teetotaler Amedeo was quite an ordinary artist, but when he got drunk, he began to create the most real masterpieces.

9. One-day exhibition

It is also worth mentioning that during the artist's lifetime there was only one personal exhibition, where drawings of naked women were presented, which soon became Amedeo's calling card.

But here, too, there were some incidents. The Parisian gendarmes, impressed by the outspoken female forms, immediately closed the exhibition, indignantly referring to the fact that everything was too frank and depraved.

10. Death and confession

He was buried in the Pere Lachaise cemetery, leaving the epitaph "Struck by death at the moment of glory." He was one of those who were often mocked during his lifetime, but became one of the few who began to be praised after death. And his works soon literally made all those who dared to buy them for a penny during the artist's lifetime.

Continuing the theme of the geniuses of this world, read also the story about, and almost lose it overnight.