15. MODIGLIANI, Amedeo
Portrait Of Maude Abrantes (detail)
1908
Oil canvas, 80.6 x 50.1 cm
Hecht Museum, Haifa
The painting has a haunting quality. The face
emerges from blue-lilac and yellow-orange waves,
which create an elegant yet unsettling atmosphere.
The face is so pale that it seems to be bloodless,
the eyes are closed as if in some secret grief, and
the over-exaggerated sensuousness of the lips
makes them look vicious. The lilac shadows
around the eyes and the blue wash on the right eye
add to the expression of anxiety and torment,
creating a dissonance between suppressed
morality and morbid sensuality.
37. MODIGLIANI, Amedeo , Featured Paintings in
Detail (2)
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38. MODIGLIANI, Amedeo
Jeanne Hebuterne In Red Shawl
The subject of this painting was Modigliani’s longtime love and partner, Jeanne Hebuterne. The young woman renounced her family and her Roman Catholic background to be with the
painter, and the couple soon had one daughter. After two years together, Modigliani died of the tuberculosis from which he suffered the majority of his life. Jeanne, grief-stricken and
inconsolable, threw herself out of a fifth-floor window, killing herself and their unborn child. Complete with a long, thin frame and head cocked coyly to the side, the painting is done with
such care and simple beauty that you can almost see Jeanne through Modigliani’s eyes.
39. MODIGLIANI, Amedeo
Reclining Nude
Modigliani’s celebrated series of reclining nudes, begun in 1916, are influenced by Italian Renaissance representations of Venus and other idealized female figures.
In this painting from 1917, the model’s stylized, outlined body spans the entire canvas; viewed close-up and from above, her hands and feet disappear outside the frame as her
creamy skin glows against the dark red bed or couch.
Unlike depictions of Venus from the Renaissance to the nineteenth century, in which mythological or allegorical attributes provide a context for the figure’s nudity, Modigliani
provocatively presents his Reclining Nude without any such references, highlighting the figure’s eroticism.
40. MODIGLIANI, Amedeo
Sleeping Nude With Arms Open (Red Nude)
In 1917, Modigliani held a one-man exhibition in Paris, which was closed within a few hours by the Paris Chief of Police, who considered the nudes shocking and scandalous. This painting
was created in 1917, and thus it may be the culprit behind Modigliani’s failure, as it was the only exhibition he ever held. Unlike his other more elongated forms, the nude body of the
woman is graciously painted with flowing curves and a sensual texture; the mask-like face with eyes full of mystery, and a slight smile to the lips. It is not so scandalous and shocking as it
is a celebration of the woman’s form and her sensual nature.
41. MODIGLIANI, Amedeo
Paul Guillaume, Novo Pilota
Amedeo Modigliani met Paul Guillaume through the poet Max Jacob in 1914. Paul Guillaume was then just starting out as an art dealer, and he rented a studio for Modigliani in Montmartre. In
1915 and 1916 Modigliani produced four portraits of his patron. The portrait in the Musée de l’Orangerie was painted at the home of the artist’s mistress, the British poet, Beatrice Hastings, who
also lived in Montmartre.
Paul Guillaume, aged just 23, is shown as an elegant young man, sure of himself, looking directly at the viewer. His figure stands out against the red background. His dark suit and hat contrast
with his face and his white shirt. The planar rendering of the face and his well-defined features attract the eye, while his left hand is barely sketched.
In this portrait Modigliani pays tribute to the young art dealer who was already regarded as the "new helmsman", like a sailor or one of the wise men guided by a star, a patron and visionary
supporter of modern art in the years after 1910.
42. MODIGLIANI, Amedeo
Portrait Of Maude Abrantes
This painting is one of Modigliani’s earlier works, and as such has much more of a traditional look. This painting is also indicative of the artist’s later style in the figure’s elongated neck
and the still, somber emotion on her face. There is also much more detail in her clothing and her face than in Modigliani’s later works, which are characterized by simple lines and few
discernable features. Early on as an artist, Modigliani preferred life-drawn women subjects, many of whom engaged in love affairs with the handsome painter. One only wonders if this was
one such subject.
43. MODIGLIANI, Amedeo
The Jewish Woman
The Jewess was the first painting Modigliani sold after settling in Paris in 1906. It was purchased by his friend and patron, Paul Alexandre, who was so taken with the work that he had
Modigliani paint it into the background of three additional commissioned portraits. Although wearing a composed expression, the stark whiteness of the sitter's face contrasts harshly
with her dark apparel, giving the composition and inner tension and suggesting strong emotions lying beneath the surface. The painting's melancholic overtones have invited
comparison with the work of Picasso's Blue Period. The painting is also one of the few Jewish-themed works by Modigliani, who was of Sephardic Jewish descent and publically
embraced his Jewish identity.
44. MODIGLIANI, Amedeo
Modigliani was born in Livorno, Italy, into a family of Sephardic Jews who had little money but a rich cultural
life. When he arrived in Paris at the age of 22, he had had eight years of academic training behind him, and
possessed a great respect for the old masters and a passionate interest in literature, especially poetry.
He settled in Montmartre, entered the private Academy of Colorossi, and frequented gatherings of avant-garde
artists and poets. Even though he is reported to have had high esteem for Matisse and Picasso, his art,
according to scholars, never had any affinity to either the Fauves or the Cubists. Modigliani admired 14th
century Italian art (especially the Siena School of painting), and was interested in primitive art in general and
African art in particular. African art was an avant-garde craze at the time, and it is quite probable that Modigliani
saw the exhibition of African art displayed at the Trocadero in 1906.
In the autumn of 1907, Modigliani met a young physician, Dr. Paul Alexander, who bought most of his early
paintings. The doctor invited him to work at the artists' colony he had established on rue de Delta. They soon
became friends and shared their interest in literature and poetry.
Modigliani's art may be considered a personal version of expressionism. The expressionistic aspects of his
work were the thematic choice of profound, often painful aspects of human life, extensive use of sharp
outlines, and masterly yet intentionally strident or dissonant color combinations. He developed a highly
personal style of extremely elongated, simplified forms endowed with a sense of rhythmic vitality and linear
grace.
Modigliani died of tuberculosis aggravated by alcoholism and drug addiction in January 1920, at the age of 37.
The art dealers, who are assumed to have kept the prices of Modigliani's painting low during his lifetime, began
negotiating a new price level at his funeral.