Amedeo MODIGLIANI (1884-1920)
See also : Top 10 Painting Italy Sculpture Bust and mask The Woman Children Nude
Chronology : 20th century 1909 1910-1919 1911 1917 1918
Chronology : 20th century 1909 1910-1919 1911 1917 1918
1909 Modigliani will be a Painter
2013 SOLD 26 M$ including premium
Modigliani, installed at the Bateau Lavoir since 1906, is a sculptor, at once close to the avant-garde style of Brancusi. A prolific drawing artist, he produced many studies and sketches.
He also knows to be a painter, with a severe and uncompromising style inspired by Picasso in the following of the portrait of Gertrude Stein. His patron Paul Alexandre invited him in 1909 to paint the portrait of the young baronne de Hasse de Villers.
It is a real challenge for the young artist. Perfectionist, he is constantly reworking the line and the colors. Alcohol does not help his decisions. The Baroness is haughty and hurried, and no longer accepts the long sittings required by the young Italian immigrant.
The miracle of this painting is that it was completed. It seems that the Baroness did not recognize herself in this woman with dominant gaze and bony face in angles as sharp as a sculpture. Her horsewoman dressing and the hand firmly held on the hip are still strengthening the authoritarian attitude.
Paul Alexandre understood the power and modernism emanating from this strong image and kept this painting entitled L'Amazone in his collection for several years. This oil on canvas, 92 x 66 cm, is estimated $ 20M, for sale by Sotheby's in New York on May 7. Here is the link to the catalog.
This is a very rare example of the beginning of the period when Modigliani considered to practise painting and sculpture altogether. Later obliged to choose for reason of poor health, he was to become the most gifted painter of his time.
POST SALE COMMENT
This portrait is important for understanding the early art of Modigliani. It was sold $ 26M including premium, in its range of estimates.
I invite you to watch the video shared by Sotheby's :
He also knows to be a painter, with a severe and uncompromising style inspired by Picasso in the following of the portrait of Gertrude Stein. His patron Paul Alexandre invited him in 1909 to paint the portrait of the young baronne de Hasse de Villers.
It is a real challenge for the young artist. Perfectionist, he is constantly reworking the line and the colors. Alcohol does not help his decisions. The Baroness is haughty and hurried, and no longer accepts the long sittings required by the young Italian immigrant.
The miracle of this painting is that it was completed. It seems that the Baroness did not recognize herself in this woman with dominant gaze and bony face in angles as sharp as a sculpture. Her horsewoman dressing and the hand firmly held on the hip are still strengthening the authoritarian attitude.
Paul Alexandre understood the power and modernism emanating from this strong image and kept this painting entitled L'Amazone in his collection for several years. This oil on canvas, 92 x 66 cm, is estimated $ 20M, for sale by Sotheby's in New York on May 7. Here is the link to the catalog.
This is a very rare example of the beginning of the period when Modigliani considered to practise painting and sculpture altogether. Later obliged to choose for reason of poor health, he was to become the most gifted painter of his time.
POST SALE COMMENT
This portrait is important for understanding the early art of Modigliani. It was sold $ 26M including premium, in its range of estimates.
I invite you to watch the video shared by Sotheby's :
1911-1912 Woman and Caryatid
2014 SOLD for $ 71M including premium
Amedeo Modigliani is a young Italian immigrant who is learning the tendencies of modern art in Paris at the Bateau-Lavoir. From his meeting with Brancusi he discovers the sculpture in direct carving, perfectly suited to his skills : Modi operates quickly and without rework.
Brancusi is one of the greatest innovators of sculpture. Reacting against the realistic details of clay and bronze, he is the first to seek beauty through basic and simplified forms that will lead him up to abstraction.
Brancusi and Modigliani find inspiration for their new styles in the antique and African arts. In 1910, Modi draws women topped with a tablette in reference to the Caryatids of the Erechtheion. His series of busts made in 1911 and 1912 will be his temple of art.
Modi is not yet famous. He uses limestone blocks taken from construction sites and carries them in a wheelbarrow to his modest studio in Montparnasse. His heads of women create around him a crowd of pure and stylized faces with the intense force of a tribal ceremony.
On June 14, 2010, a caryatid bust 64 cm high including the cubic base was sold for € 43,2M including premium by Christie's.
On November 4 in New York, Sotheby's sells a bust, 73 cm high including the base, lot 8. The press release of October 3 is announcing an estimate in excess of $ 45M.
I invite you to play the video shared by Sotheby's :
Brancusi is one of the greatest innovators of sculpture. Reacting against the realistic details of clay and bronze, he is the first to seek beauty through basic and simplified forms that will lead him up to abstraction.
Brancusi and Modigliani find inspiration for their new styles in the antique and African arts. In 1910, Modi draws women topped with a tablette in reference to the Caryatids of the Erechtheion. His series of busts made in 1911 and 1912 will be his temple of art.
Modi is not yet famous. He uses limestone blocks taken from construction sites and carries them in a wheelbarrow to his modest studio in Montparnasse. His heads of women create around him a crowd of pure and stylized faces with the intense force of a tribal ceremony.
On June 14, 2010, a caryatid bust 64 cm high including the cubic base was sold for € 43,2M including premium by Christie's.
On November 4 in New York, Sotheby's sells a bust, 73 cm high including the base, lot 8. The press release of October 3 is announcing an estimate in excess of $ 45M.
I invite you to play the video shared by Sotheby's :
1911-1912 Modigliani sculpted the Timeless Woman
2010 SOLD 43.2 M€ including premium
Amedeo Modigliani made a dazzling pass in the history of sculpture.
His female heads are a synthesis of all ages and all civilizations. They are simple as the Cycladic idols, noble as queens of Egypt, Mannerist as a Botticelli, mysterious as African masks, serene as deities, geometric like the art of his friend Brancusi. They are designed to be viewed as a group, such as the Cariatides of a Greek temple.
Made in a very limited quantity, they were dispersed. Only the artist in his small studio in Montparnasse, or some friends at an exhibition in 1911 or 1912, could breathe the mystical atmosphere of the whole.
One of these statues, made of Parisian limestone, 64 cm high including the cubic base, is on sale at Christie's in Paris on June 14. It is obvious that this lot, estimated € 4 million, is exceptional. It is shared in an article in French by Le Figaro.
Modigliani carved the stone in direct cut. In 1914, he had to give up his vocation as a sculptor for reasons of health and money. His brush was as clever as his chisel to express the purity of the curves, and he became the best portrait painter of his time.
POST SALE COMMENT
The information provided by Christie's did not leave any possibility for doubt: this sculpture is a masterpiece. Result: € 43.2 million including premium.
I invite you to play the video shared on the web by Christie's :
His female heads are a synthesis of all ages and all civilizations. They are simple as the Cycladic idols, noble as queens of Egypt, Mannerist as a Botticelli, mysterious as African masks, serene as deities, geometric like the art of his friend Brancusi. They are designed to be viewed as a group, such as the Cariatides of a Greek temple.
Made in a very limited quantity, they were dispersed. Only the artist in his small studio in Montparnasse, or some friends at an exhibition in 1911 or 1912, could breathe the mystical atmosphere of the whole.
One of these statues, made of Parisian limestone, 64 cm high including the cubic base, is on sale at Christie's in Paris on June 14. It is obvious that this lot, estimated € 4 million, is exceptional. It is shared in an article in French by Le Figaro.
Modigliani carved the stone in direct cut. In 1914, he had to give up his vocation as a sculptor for reasons of health and money. His brush was as clever as his chisel to express the purity of the curves, and he became the best portrait painter of his time.
POST SALE COMMENT
The information provided by Christie's did not leave any possibility for doubt: this sculpture is a masterpiece. Result: € 43.2 million including premium.
I invite you to play the video shared on the web by Christie's :
1917 A Portrait for Fifteen Francs
2018 SOLD for $ 157M including premium
Amedeo Modigliani stopped practicing sculpture around 1914. He paints portraits of Montparnasse artists with their heads deformed by cubism. In 1916 Zborowski takes Amedeo's career in his hands, adding his many friends to the list of models.
Modigliani was a prolific draftsman. He had learned during his artistic training to draw quickly. Close to the conceptions of the Académie de la Grande Chaumière where he will soon meet Jeanne, he knows how to carry out speedy studies of female nudes in poses where the natural prevails over the conventional.
Zbo organizes paintings of nudes by Modi. He chooses pretty women whom he leads into an apartment-workshop where he has installed Modigliani. The artist is paid 15 francs a day and the model 5 francs for the session.
The rest is easy to imagine. The woman has won her 5 francs and is in a hurry to leave. The artist has little time. His painting is based on a drawing that brings to his best images a great spontaneity. The bare skin partitioned by the lines is painted in a warm color. The woman is lying or sitting on the bed, very simply, without decoration and without narrative effect.
A Nu couché sur le côté, oil on canvas 90 x 147 cm painted in 1917, was sold for $ 27M including premium by Christie's on November 4, 2003. It will be sold by Sotheby's in New York on May 14, lot 18. The press release announces an estimate in excess of $ 150M. It is the largest painting in this series and the only reclining nude by Modigliani to be displayed in all the extent of her arms and legs.
The attitude is not very erotic. The woman is seen from behind. The head turned for looking at the artist and the firmly sealed mouth reveal some impatience.
On November 9, 2015, Christie's sold a 60 x 92 cm Nudo Rosso for $ 170M including premium. This nude reclining on her back dated 1917-1918 seems indeed later by its softer line, an even warmer color and also a friendly attitude of this model who exhibits all her charms in full front.
Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's.
Modigliani was a prolific draftsman. He had learned during his artistic training to draw quickly. Close to the conceptions of the Académie de la Grande Chaumière where he will soon meet Jeanne, he knows how to carry out speedy studies of female nudes in poses where the natural prevails over the conventional.
Zbo organizes paintings of nudes by Modi. He chooses pretty women whom he leads into an apartment-workshop where he has installed Modigliani. The artist is paid 15 francs a day and the model 5 francs for the session.
The rest is easy to imagine. The woman has won her 5 francs and is in a hurry to leave. The artist has little time. His painting is based on a drawing that brings to his best images a great spontaneity. The bare skin partitioned by the lines is painted in a warm color. The woman is lying or sitting on the bed, very simply, without decoration and without narrative effect.
A Nu couché sur le côté, oil on canvas 90 x 147 cm painted in 1917, was sold for $ 27M including premium by Christie's on November 4, 2003. It will be sold by Sotheby's in New York on May 14, lot 18. The press release announces an estimate in excess of $ 150M. It is the largest painting in this series and the only reclining nude by Modigliani to be displayed in all the extent of her arms and legs.
The attitude is not very erotic. The woman is seen from behind. The head turned for looking at the artist and the firmly sealed mouth reveal some impatience.
On November 9, 2015, Christie's sold a 60 x 92 cm Nudo Rosso for $ 170M including premium. This nude reclining on her back dated 1917-1918 seems indeed later by its softer line, an even warmer color and also a friendly attitude of this model who exhibits all her charms in full front.
Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's.
1917 A Nude Woman sitting for Modigliani
2010 SOLD 69 M$ including premium
For the third time, a masterpiece by Modigliani creates the event at auction.
In 1917, having abandoned the sculpture, Modigliani focuses on the painting of the nude to express his vision of the ideal woman. Sometimes the model is standing or lying, but the woman sitting naked on a couch, known as La Belle Romaine, is undoubtedly one of the best.
This oil on canvas, 100 x 65 cm, shows a woman happy to be watched, confident, intimate. The painter is quite successful, with a purity of line and a warm tone of flesh which is the top of his art. It is illustrated on the press release shared by Artdaily.
Paris was quite prudish at that time, having probably already forgotten the friend women of Toulouse-Lautrec, and the exhibition of Modigliani's nudes at the Galerie Berthe Weill was forbidden for indecency at its opening. Our painting was perhaps one of them. Modigliani, a true great artist, had not deigned considering the academic decorum.
On 20 November 1987, the Parisian art market suddenly started to rise with the fabulous Georges Renand collection. La Belle Romaine, sold 41 MF, tripled the French auction record and leaved for Asia. At the same sale the other Modigliani owned by Renand, a Woman with Black Tie, was sold 34 million francs.
On November 11, 1999, la Belle Romaine is sold for $ 16.8 million including premium by Sotheby's in New York, world record at the time for a Modigliani.
It comes back on November 2 at Sotheby's in New York. The estimate is not published in the catalog but the press release told that it can fetch $ 40M.
POST SALE COMMENT
La Belle Romaine is a masterpiece that transcends all variations of the market. Whenever it appears on the market, its exceptional quality is confirmed. Its latest feat is at $ 69M including premium.
The file below is shared by Wikimedia :
In 1917, having abandoned the sculpture, Modigliani focuses on the painting of the nude to express his vision of the ideal woman. Sometimes the model is standing or lying, but the woman sitting naked on a couch, known as La Belle Romaine, is undoubtedly one of the best.
This oil on canvas, 100 x 65 cm, shows a woman happy to be watched, confident, intimate. The painter is quite successful, with a purity of line and a warm tone of flesh which is the top of his art. It is illustrated on the press release shared by Artdaily.
Paris was quite prudish at that time, having probably already forgotten the friend women of Toulouse-Lautrec, and the exhibition of Modigliani's nudes at the Galerie Berthe Weill was forbidden for indecency at its opening. Our painting was perhaps one of them. Modigliani, a true great artist, had not deigned considering the academic decorum.
On 20 November 1987, the Parisian art market suddenly started to rise with the fabulous Georges Renand collection. La Belle Romaine, sold 41 MF, tripled the French auction record and leaved for Asia. At the same sale the other Modigliani owned by Renand, a Woman with Black Tie, was sold 34 million francs.
On November 11, 1999, la Belle Romaine is sold for $ 16.8 million including premium by Sotheby's in New York, world record at the time for a Modigliani.
It comes back on November 2 at Sotheby's in New York. The estimate is not published in the catalog but the press release told that it can fetch $ 40M.
POST SALE COMMENT
La Belle Romaine is a masterpiece that transcends all variations of the market. Whenever it appears on the market, its exceptional quality is confirmed. Its latest feat is at $ 69M including premium.
The file below is shared by Wikimedia :
1917-1918 The Ideal of Intimacy
2015 SOLD for $ 170M including premium
The still young artist endeavors to show the perfect woman while going beyond his own life plagued by tuberculosis and alcohol. Around 1911, the heads carved by Modigliani transcend all artistic styles.
In 1917, he found that ideal in the nude. He has no money but that does not mind. His small workshop contains two chairs, a sofa and a bottle of cognac. He is alone with a girl paid by his dealer. Zborowski had a good perception : the girls are pretty. Around them is war. The time is not conducive to shameless exhibits. Modigliani's nudes are a scandal.
Amedeo is a nice guy. He establishes empathy with those anonymous visitors for a day. He expresses tenderness and intimacy better than any other artist. He obtained this effect by a subtle color work. Pink is not warm enough to express the skin: the artist creates rich colors tending to reddish or apricot.
On November 9 in New York, Christie's sells a Nudo Rosso, oil on canvas 60 x 92 cm painted in 1917 or 1918, lot 8A.
This reclining nude is a masterpiece of harmony, similar on that way as the Belle Romaine seated nude that was sold for $ 69M including premium by Sotheby's on November 2, 2010.
The voluptuous curves emphasizes the confidence of the model with her back slightly arched above the couch and her outstretched arms. Eyes without pupils are monochrome, enabling the viewer to better capture the quiet waiting of her gaze. The wild locks on the forehead indicate that this ideal woman is a character from real life and not a model prepared for art.
The press release of September 3 announced a hope beyond $ 100M. Let me add a comment: this superb painting is worth such an expectation.
I invite you to watch the video shared by Christie's.
In 1917, he found that ideal in the nude. He has no money but that does not mind. His small workshop contains two chairs, a sofa and a bottle of cognac. He is alone with a girl paid by his dealer. Zborowski had a good perception : the girls are pretty. Around them is war. The time is not conducive to shameless exhibits. Modigliani's nudes are a scandal.
Amedeo is a nice guy. He establishes empathy with those anonymous visitors for a day. He expresses tenderness and intimacy better than any other artist. He obtained this effect by a subtle color work. Pink is not warm enough to express the skin: the artist creates rich colors tending to reddish or apricot.
On November 9 in New York, Christie's sells a Nudo Rosso, oil on canvas 60 x 92 cm painted in 1917 or 1918, lot 8A.
This reclining nude is a masterpiece of harmony, similar on that way as the Belle Romaine seated nude that was sold for $ 69M including premium by Sotheby's on November 2, 2010.
The voluptuous curves emphasizes the confidence of the model with her back slightly arched above the couch and her outstretched arms. Eyes without pupils are monochrome, enabling the viewer to better capture the quiet waiting of her gaze. The wild locks on the forehead indicate that this ideal woman is a character from real life and not a model prepared for art.
The press release of September 3 announced a hope beyond $ 100M. Let me add a comment: this superb painting is worth such an expectation.
I invite you to watch the video shared by Christie's.
1918 A Mannerist Fellow in Montparnasse
2017 SOLD for £ 16M including premium
The portrait by Modigliani of a young man from the circle of Zborowski went unsold at Christie's on November 5, 2013 where it had been offered with a very high estimate. It comes now for sale at Sotheby's in London on March 1, lot 10 estimated £ 10M.
I discussed it as follows in 2013 :
Leopold Zborowski was a Polish exile in Paris during the war. This very young student wanted to become an art dealer and joined the artistic community of Montparnasse.
Modigliani knows everyone and loves to paint portraits of his fellow artists. Zborowski, who himself does not yet live in ease, captures his confidence by promising to supply him with an unlimited amount of drink.
Zborowski is now controling the artistic output of the best portrait painter of their time, and he organizes his career. He pushes Amedeo to specialize in those female nudes whose exhibition made a scandal at Berthe Weill gallery in December 1917 and provided a deserved fame to the painter.
The purpose of Zborowski is commercial. He now directs Amedeo towards achieving more mundane portraits for appealing the customers. Painted in 1918, probably early in the year, the oil on canvas titled Monsieur Baranowski, 112 x 56 cm, is one from that series.
Baranowski is very young. Elegantly dressed, he wants to make a career as an artist. With his pale skin, too long hair, charming mouth and an attitude mannered to the extreme, he appears as an androgynous.
The too formal title, Monsieur Baranowski, not providing the first name nor the abbreviated 'Bara', shows that this young esthete wanted to be seriously considered, and certainly indicates that Baranowski was in the circle of Zborowski without being intimate with Amedeo. This artwork is a wonderful psychological portrait of one of those weird people who constituted the bohemian life of Montparnasse.
I discussed it as follows in 2013 :
Leopold Zborowski was a Polish exile in Paris during the war. This very young student wanted to become an art dealer and joined the artistic community of Montparnasse.
Modigliani knows everyone and loves to paint portraits of his fellow artists. Zborowski, who himself does not yet live in ease, captures his confidence by promising to supply him with an unlimited amount of drink.
Zborowski is now controling the artistic output of the best portrait painter of their time, and he organizes his career. He pushes Amedeo to specialize in those female nudes whose exhibition made a scandal at Berthe Weill gallery in December 1917 and provided a deserved fame to the painter.
The purpose of Zborowski is commercial. He now directs Amedeo towards achieving more mundane portraits for appealing the customers. Painted in 1918, probably early in the year, the oil on canvas titled Monsieur Baranowski, 112 x 56 cm, is one from that series.
Baranowski is very young. Elegantly dressed, he wants to make a career as an artist. With his pale skin, too long hair, charming mouth and an attitude mannered to the extreme, he appears as an androgynous.
The too formal title, Monsieur Baranowski, not providing the first name nor the abbreviated 'Bara', shows that this young esthete wanted to be seriously considered, and certainly indicates that Baranowski was in the circle of Zborowski without being intimate with Amedeo. This artwork is a wonderful psychological portrait of one of those weird people who constituted the bohemian life of Montparnasse.
#AuctionUpdate Modigliani’s elegant depiction of an androgynous young man with fragile good looks, Portrait de Baranowski, soars to £16.1m pic.twitter.com/ubzOb6Mhcl
— Sotheby's (@Sothebys) March 1, 2017
1919 The Last Hope of Amedeo
2016 SOLD for £ 38.5M including premium
Amedeo and Jeanne entered together into the legend. When they met in 1917, Amedeo was 33 years old and Jeanne was 19. She sacrifices her desire to become an artist and becomes the companion of the cursed painter, alcoholic, drug addict, consumptive and moreover a Jew in a society that was not tolerant.
Peace is back. In 1919, Amedeo Modigliani is again able to reveal the ideal woman, as in the time of his sculpted heads of 1911 and 1912. For a long time his weakened health prevents him from cutting the stone. The sensual nudes painted in 1917 and 1918 brought a sinuous outline of the women's body. Warm colors worked with an extreme care provide comfort and kindness that show to which extent the interpretation of that hypersensitive artist as a wild genius is wrong.
The portraits by Amedeo of his intimates are recognizable but they are not realistic because they must represent an absolute. Small in life, Jeanne is tall for Amedeo. Her green eyes become intensely blue to express innocence and fidelity. The arms become more elongated with gestures that are altogether expressive and quiet and above all typically feminine.
On June 21 in London, Sotheby's sells at lot 12 the portrait of Jeanne au foulard (with scarf), oil on canvas 92 x 54 cm painted by Amedeo in 1919. The press release of June 6 announced an expectation beyond £ 28M.
The muse does not laugh : her mouth is again sulky, as in her other portraits. The specificity of this artwork is in the eyes drawn with visible pupils, increasing the emotional presence of the young woman just as if Amedeo had just decided to abandon his signature uniformly blue eyes. This painting could be one of the last portraits of Jeanne.
1919 was a year of great creativity for Modigliani. Here are two results for less empathetic portraits with eyes full of sky : £ 27M including premium by Christie's on February 6, 2013 for Jeanne au chapeau with a protective gesture of the hand ; $ 43M including premium by Sotheby's on November 4, 2015 for Paulette in the stiff attitude of her 15 years old.
Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's (below).
Peace is back. In 1919, Amedeo Modigliani is again able to reveal the ideal woman, as in the time of his sculpted heads of 1911 and 1912. For a long time his weakened health prevents him from cutting the stone. The sensual nudes painted in 1917 and 1918 brought a sinuous outline of the women's body. Warm colors worked with an extreme care provide comfort and kindness that show to which extent the interpretation of that hypersensitive artist as a wild genius is wrong.
The portraits by Amedeo of his intimates are recognizable but they are not realistic because they must represent an absolute. Small in life, Jeanne is tall for Amedeo. Her green eyes become intensely blue to express innocence and fidelity. The arms become more elongated with gestures that are altogether expressive and quiet and above all typically feminine.
On June 21 in London, Sotheby's sells at lot 12 the portrait of Jeanne au foulard (with scarf), oil on canvas 92 x 54 cm painted by Amedeo in 1919. The press release of June 6 announced an expectation beyond £ 28M.
The muse does not laugh : her mouth is again sulky, as in her other portraits. The specificity of this artwork is in the eyes drawn with visible pupils, increasing the emotional presence of the young woman just as if Amedeo had just decided to abandon his signature uniformly blue eyes. This painting could be one of the last portraits of Jeanne.
1919 was a year of great creativity for Modigliani. Here are two results for less empathetic portraits with eyes full of sky : £ 27M including premium by Christie's on February 6, 2013 for Jeanne au chapeau with a protective gesture of the hand ; $ 43M including premium by Sotheby's on November 4, 2015 for Paulette in the stiff attitude of her 15 years old.
Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's (below).
The greatest and most tragic #love story in #art history? #Modigliani's tribute to Jeanne https://t.co/Zyv622WeXg pic.twitter.com/uycU1vGQ5d
— Sotheby's (@Sothebys) June 5, 2016
1919 Portraits in Montparnasse
2015 SOLD for $ 43M including premium
Amedeo Modigliani came back from Nice to Paris in May 1919 with Jeanne and their baby Giovanna. Helped by Zborowski, he set up his studio rue de la Grande Chaumière. Peace had returned and a period of great creativity begins for the artist.
Since he had to give up sculpture because of his failing health, Amedeo is primarily a portrait painter. His models are the people around him in the art world of Montparnasse and humble fellows who cannot be his customers. His paintings are difficult to sell.
The portraits of seated models at the Grande Chaumière are set up similarly with small variations in the position of the hands and the orientation of the head. The format of the canvas increases, close to life size. Amedeo also works on the harmony of rare colors.
When Paulette Jourdain arrives at Montparnasse, she is a still a child at only 15 years old. She obtains to work for Zborowski. She is the last model of Amedeo in 1919. Her portrait, oil on canvas 100 x 65 cm, is for sale at Sotheby's in New York on November 4, lot 12T. The estimate beyond $ 25M was announced in the press release of 4 September.
The search for expression is dominant over realism with two signature innovations in Amedeo's art : a tall neck creating a neat distance between head and body and the eyes completely filled in blue that announce surrealism and are certainly a proof of kindness of the artist for his model. A blue eyed portrait of Jeanne Hébuterne with Hat, oil on canvas 92 x 54 cm, was sold for £ 27M including premium by Christie's on February 6, 2013.
I invite you to watch the video shared by Sotheby's. The image is shared by WikiArt.
Since he had to give up sculpture because of his failing health, Amedeo is primarily a portrait painter. His models are the people around him in the art world of Montparnasse and humble fellows who cannot be his customers. His paintings are difficult to sell.
The portraits of seated models at the Grande Chaumière are set up similarly with small variations in the position of the hands and the orientation of the head. The format of the canvas increases, close to life size. Amedeo also works on the harmony of rare colors.
When Paulette Jourdain arrives at Montparnasse, she is a still a child at only 15 years old. She obtains to work for Zborowski. She is the last model of Amedeo in 1919. Her portrait, oil on canvas 100 x 65 cm, is for sale at Sotheby's in New York on November 4, lot 12T. The estimate beyond $ 25M was announced in the press release of 4 September.
The search for expression is dominant over realism with two signature innovations in Amedeo's art : a tall neck creating a neat distance between head and body and the eyes completely filled in blue that announce surrealism and are certainly a proof of kindness of the artist for his model. A blue eyed portrait of Jeanne Hébuterne with Hat, oil on canvas 92 x 54 cm, was sold for £ 27M including premium by Christie's on February 6, 2013.
I invite you to watch the video shared by Sotheby's. The image is shared by WikiArt.
1919 Jeanne with Blue Eyes
2013 SOLD 27 M£ including premium
When Amedeo Modigliani paints the portraits of his friends, he idealizes the forms which he can no longer express through the sculpture that has become too tiring for his fragile health. And the perfect line, the charming sinuosity, the elongation of bodies are not the rediscovery of mannerism but the direct extension of his inspiration as a sculptor.
Jeanne is his muse. He met this nice girl in 1917 when she was 19 years old. Madly in love, he shows an ideal Jeanne, as he would like her to be.
In 1919, when Amedeo paints Jeanne Hébuterne au chapeau, the young woman has already born him a daughter, also named Jeanne. This oil on canvas, 92 x 54 cm, is an invitation to communicate. The gesture is nice, the pastel-like background is discreet, the eye position is straightforward.
These eyes which are the strong point of the image are nearly uniformly blue, as if the face so alive elsewhere of the sitter was only a mask to a dreamlike sky. The ongoing process of Modigliani to the representation of the ideal woman has led to this ultimate detail that makes him, quite unexpectedly, a precursor of surrealism.
Jeanne au chapeau was sold at £ 16.4 million including premium by Sotheby's on 19 June 2006. This painting is estimated £ 16M, for sale by Christie's in London on February 6.
POST SALE COMMENT
This portrait had every reason to be considered as a masterpiece. It was sold £ 27M including premium.
I invite you to play the video shared by Christie's.
Jeanne is his muse. He met this nice girl in 1917 when she was 19 years old. Madly in love, he shows an ideal Jeanne, as he would like her to be.
In 1919, when Amedeo paints Jeanne Hébuterne au chapeau, the young woman has already born him a daughter, also named Jeanne. This oil on canvas, 92 x 54 cm, is an invitation to communicate. The gesture is nice, the pastel-like background is discreet, the eye position is straightforward.
These eyes which are the strong point of the image are nearly uniformly blue, as if the face so alive elsewhere of the sitter was only a mask to a dreamlike sky. The ongoing process of Modigliani to the representation of the ideal woman has led to this ultimate detail that makes him, quite unexpectedly, a precursor of surrealism.
Jeanne au chapeau was sold at £ 16.4 million including premium by Sotheby's on 19 June 2006. This painting is estimated £ 16M, for sale by Christie's in London on February 6.
POST SALE COMMENT
This portrait had every reason to be considered as a masterpiece. It was sold £ 27M including premium.
I invite you to play the video shared by Christie's.