Anna Akhmatova and Amedeo Modigliani: love as art

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

A novel full of incredible assumptions and idle judgments - this is exactly what the relationship between the talented Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani and the great Russian poetess Anna Akhmatova turned out to be. In it there was a place for both secrets and contradictions, and the birth of true art, in the features of which an unsaid story of deep love is guessed. Two famous personalities with a special attitude towards the opposite sex were able to kindle a passion for each other for a very short time.

Anna Akhmatova's attitude to men

To understand how Anna Akhmatova favored the male sex, it is enough to read her favorite phrase: "The culture of a woman is determined by the number of her lovers." At the same time, she noticed that, alas, she had less than five worthy gentlemen. She was married three times, but many sources claim that Anna had connections on the side.

Moreover, the first husband, Nikolai Gumilyov, who soon became a famous poet, often turned a blind eye to the fleeting hobbies of his wife, thanks to which they lived in marriage for eight years. Akhmatova herself, someday will say about herself: "The most tender friend of strangers' husbands and an inconsolable widow of many."

Amedeo Modigliani's attitude towards women

As for the burning handsome Modigliani, he simply adored fleeting relationships with the fair sex. Often his models became his lovers, with whom the artist indulged in love pleasures right in the process of drawing. His inconsistency in the choice of partners did not become an obstacle to sincere love on the part of several girls. Officially, these are Beatrice Hasting and Jeanne Hébuterne.

Both were the artist's muses, and Jeanne even gave birth to his daughter. Another child of theirs was supposed to be born, but Hébuterne, being pregnant, committed suicide when she learned about the death of her Amedeo. As for Anna Akhmatova, she was in no way connected by love ties with Modigliani, and only in the 60s of the twentieth century the poetess herself opened the veil of their relationship, telling about the great artist and his role in her life.

Meeting Akhmatova and Modigliani

They first met in Paris, in 1910, when the Russian poetess traveled to France and Italy with her new husband Nikolai Gumilyov. The couple had their honeymoon. Akhmatova herself said that the Italian managed to impress her. Indeed, despite the ridiculous appearance (the artist was dressed in corduroy pants and a yellow jacket), his behavior was so gallant and manners - impeccable that Anna even forgot about his outfit. But their acquaintance was short-lived, and soon the Gumilyovs returned home.

The birth of a novel

Despite the fact that the poet carefully kept secrets about her relationship, it is known that Modigliani simply adored her. He admitted this to Anna in the first letter sent to her six months after their meeting in Paris. At that time, Akhmatova's husband was far away, and it was easy for the writer to inflame with feelings for a foreign artist. He bombarded Anna with passionate letters and this gave its result. When Nikolai Gumilyov returned home, the couple quarreled violently, and Anna left for Paris. It happened in 1911, and it was from that moment that the story of two art geniuses began.

How it was

According to the poetess herself, it was with Modigliani that she had no relationship. But, at the same time, the artist was able to write more than 16 stunning paintings with her image. And Akhmatova herself confessed to her acquaintance Georgy Adamovich, when they drove past her Paris apartments in 1965, "how often Modigliani visited her here." Recalling, Anna Andreevna says that she and Amedeo just walked the streets of Paris, since the artist was so poor that he had nothing to pay for the amenities during their dates.

The poetess called their relationship a prehistory of life: short - Amedeo, and long - Akhmatova herself. These two hearts were united by special views on things. Modigliani admired Anna's ability to guess thoughts, and the twenty-year-old girl was amazed at his ability to see the world differently from the others. The artist often took the Russian poet to the Louvre, introducing her to his passion for Egypt.

He even painted pictures with Akhmatova's face in the spirit of Egyptian women. Remembering, Anna Andreevna tells with trepidation how Amedeo sheltered her in the rain during their walks, and described a case when she came to him with a bouquet of roses, and he was not at home. Here the poetess confesses that she began to tear off and throw the petals under his door. And the artist himself will later say that they lay very beautifully.

These words hide in themselves more declarations of love than the loudest exclamations. After all, only a reverent relationship can make ordinary flowers a part of special memories. Memories of a novel that lasted a very short time. A few months later, the poetess decided to return to her homeland and, goodbye, Amedeo will give her 16 of his paintings with her images. He will ask to keep them, but this will turn out to be an unfulfilled promise, since, soon, they will burn during a fire and only one drawing will be with Anna all her life.

When love ended …

After parting, Modigliani returns to his riotous life, from the consequences of which, in 1919, he dies. Anna finds out about this by chance, after reading an old magazine in 1920. Then they will say about Amedeo that a good artist has died, and in 1922 he will be called great. In the 1990s, the world will see an exhibition of Modigliani's paintings, among which there will be a place for 12 portraits of Akhmatova. Anna herself will marry twice more and will not admit to anyone about her relationship with the great artist.

And only at the end of her life, she, with special trepidation, will tell the story of a burning handsome man from Paris, about whom not a single verse has been written, but what a deep longing will appear in her works after their parting. And Modigliani himself will not shout about their relationship, but will simply paint pictures with her image. Apparently, this is how real people of art convey their feelings: they are silent aloud, and shout about them in their brilliant works.

There was another beloved man in the life of Anna Akhmatova - Boris Anrep, an affair with whom can be described as " seven days of love and eternal separation".