The tragic end at the age of 35 of the artist with a super expensive nude painting

Italian painter and sculptor Amadeo Modigliani is the author of one of the most expensive paintings of all time with a selling price of more than 170 million USD. He is known for his modern portraits and nudes, which feature a surreal elongated face and neck. Modigliani was not a successful painter while he was alive, but after his death he became very famous. Amadeo died of tuberculosis meningitis at the age of 35.

Modigliani was born in 1884 to a Jewish family in Livorno, Italy. Amadeo Modigliani’s parents used to be business was quite prosperous, but his family experienced an economic crisis in 1883. The economic downturn of the country sent Amadeo Modigliani’s family into bankruptcy. Being resourceful, however, Modigliani’s mother used her social connections to set up a school.

Modigliani has a very close relationship with his mother, who taught him at home until he was 10 years old. Amadeo Modigliani fell ill with pleurisy when he was about 11 years old, a few years later he continued to suffer from typhoid. When he was 16 years old, he fell ill and contracted tuberculosis which later took his life.

Modigliani loved to draw from an early age, drawing before he even started formal school. His mother has always been supportive of Modigliani’s passion for the art. At the age of 14, while suffering from typhoid fever, Modigliani once told his mother in a delirium that he wanted to see paintings in Florence, Italy, and that he was worried that with his current health situation, he might not never had a chance to see them live. Amadeo’s mother promised to take him to Florence as soon as he recovered. Not only did she fulfill this promise, but she also sent her son to study with the best painter in Livorno, Guglielmo Micheli.

Modigliani worked in Micheli’s art school from 1898 to 1900. While studying with Micheli, Modigliani studied not only landscape painting, but also portrait, still life and nude painting.

In 1903, Amadeo Modigliani moved to Venice, Italy and continued to paint with all his passion. In addition, he began to spend time regularly in the entertainment areas of the city. This choice of a “playboy” lifestyle obviously had a huge impact on Amadeo’s burgeoning artistic style, and these choices appear to be more than just teenage rebellion.

Italian painter and sculptor Amadeo Modigliani (Image: Pinterest).

In 1906, Modigliani moved to Paris, France to establish a career. He became acquainted with the sculptor Jacob Epstein, who founded an art studio with the aim of creating a home of art for all to enjoy. At that time, Modigliani resided in the community of Montmartre, a place for poor painters. When he first arrived in Paris, Amadeo regularly corresponded with his mother, painted nudes and drank in moderation. Those who met Amadeo at that time commented that he was a quiet, unruly person. It was around that time that he created the famous painting called Portrait of Maude Abrantes (1907).

Amadeo Modigliani’s demeanor and image completely changed within a year of his arrival in Paris, France. He transformed himself from a sophisticated academic painter into a wandering prince. At this point, Modigliani was a drunkard, a drug abuser, and his messy studio reflected this.

Modigliani’s increased use of alcohol and drugs may have been a way for him to hide his tuberculosis from friends. Most of the young artist’s friends were unaware of his illness. In 1900, tuberculosis was the main cause of death in France. The disease is extremely contagious, there is no cure, and people with it are feared, alienated, and despised by others.

Modigliani uses alcohol and drugs as temporary solutions to relieve physical discomfort, allowing him to maintain a sense of vivacity and continue creating works of art. Modigliani used more alcohol and drugs around 1914, when his TB symptoms increased, indicating that the disease had progressed to a more advanced stage. During this period, he created the famous work Portrait of Frank Burty Haviland (1914).

Amadeo has had a series of brief love affairs with many women, but the most important woman in his life is Jeanne Hébuterne, a painter and model. Jeanne was described by writer Charles-Albert Cingria as gentle, shy, quiet, and tactful. Jeanne Hébuterne regularly models for Modigliani and he has painted her more than 20 times. Despite the objections of Jeanne’s family because Amadeo Modigliani was known as an alcoholic and drug addict, Jeanne and Amadeo still lived together. The couple has a daughter together named Jeanne Modigliani. In addition, Modigliani has three children with other women.

The painting “Nude” was painted by Amadeo Modigliani in 1917 (Image: Pinterest).

At the end of 1919, Modigliani continued to paint in a state of rapidly declining health due to tuberculosis and alcoholism. In 1920, after many days without hearing from Amadeo Modigliani, an acquaintance of Amadeo Modigliani visited him and found him delirious in bed, hugging Hébuterne. A doctor was brought in but couldn’t do much because Modigliani was in the final stages of tuberculosis meningitis. He died on January 24, 1920 at the age of 35.

When Modigliani died, his girlfriend, 21-year-old Jeanne Hébuterne, was eight months pregnant with their second child. The day after her boyfriend died, Hébuterne was brought back to her biological parents’ house. There, she committed suicide by throwing herself from the 5th floor to the ground.

Modigliani is buried at the Père Lachaise cemetery in France and Hébuterne is buried at the Parisien de Bagneux cemetery near Paris, France. It was not until 1930 that Hébuterne’s family allowed her to be moved to rest next to Modigliani.

In his short life, Amadeo Modigliani made only one solo exhibition and often had to give away his work in exchange for restaurant meals, Modigliani died in poverty but after he After his death, he became extremely famous with paintings that sold for tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars.

In November 2010, one nude painting which Amedeo Modigliani painted circa 1917 sold for more than $68.9 million at an auction in New York, USA. Before that, in early 2010, another painting by Modigliani was sold for 43.2 million Euro in Paris, France.

One of the first portraits Amadeo Modigliani painted of his girlfriend Jeanne Hébuterne sold for $19.1 million, much higher than the original estimate of $9-12 million.

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