Also known under the pen name of Dedo, Modigliani started painting in the studio of Livorno painter Guglielmo Micheli, where he happened to meet Giovanni Fattori and the Macchiaioli painting.
He continued studying art in Florence and Venice, but it is in Paris, where he arrived in 1906, that Modigliani’s art experienced a dramatic twist, approaching the painting avant-gardes of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Paul Cézanne.
Among the Montmartre painters he developed an absolutely personal and unique style. His paintings, despite being contemporary to cubism, fell outside the rules of the movement, while his sculptures were affected by the influence of African and primitive art.
In 1917 his first solo exhibition was held in Paris, but the police closed it down for the scandal caused by his “nudes”.
The critical acclaim for Modigliani’s works, however, grew side by side with his reputation of troubled artist. His weak health and dissolute life of heavy drinking and drugs led him soon to an early death at just 35.
His women portraits are still famous, characterised by stylised faces and swan necks.