Modigliani e le sue donne

Published on the occasion of the exhibition “Modigliani. Art Experience” at MUDEC in Milan

A celebrated creator of unmistakable swan-necked portraits, Amedeo Modigliani is also known to the general public for the stormy bohemian existence that made him the cursed artist par excellence. His companions in this dissipated life in early twentieth-century Paris were not only some of the most celebrated artists of the twentieth century-such as Picasso, Braque, or Diego Rivera-but also a host of extraordinary female figures. Elvira known as “La Quique,” daughter of a Marseille prostitute and “made for love.” Beatrice Hastings, eccentric, independent and uninhibited. Jeanne Hébuterne, the most beloved, who could not survive the pain of Modigliani’s death and committed suicide by throwing herself out of a window, pregnant with their second child. Also, the very elegant Maud Abrantés, the young physician Simone Thiroux, and the artist’s own mother, the enterprising Eugénie Garsin, who personally oversaw the education of her four children. Muses, friends or lovers, these women were anything but mere silent models who lived in the great artist’s shadow: indeed, they were key figures in Modigliani’s life, often protagonists themselves in compelling stories, collected here for the first time in a single volume.

TEXTS FROM
Francesco Poli – art historian, critic and curator, is Professor of Contemporary Art History at the Brera Academy. He is the author of numerous volumes devoted mainly to 20th-century art, and writes regularly for various magazines and newspapers.