Amadeo Modigliani: The Prince Of Montparnasse
by Ante Glibota
What posthumous revenge for the misunderstood artist-lost soul! His exhibitions at the beginning of the twentieth century provoked controversial reviews and major scandals, with works forcefully removed from the walls of galleries and confiscated by the French police and authorities with the label "immoral," as a threat to the public good, while in fact they were merely harmless nudes of sensual women.
Today the President of the State Senate of the French Republic, Christian Poncelet, the second ranking official in France according to state protocol, has organized and presented this same Modigliani in a retrospective exhibition. Further, in the introduction to the extensive catalogue, Poncelet affixed to him the epithet "the greatest name in modern painting", and stated that the Luxembourg Museum, which belongs to the Senate, had been turned into "le Temple de la Volupte" (the Temple of Voluptuousness).O tempora! O mores!
This retrospective is sensational not merely in terms of the reversal of opinion noted above, but also because of its total coherence, the wealth of exhibited art works, a significant number of which had never before been shown at an exhibition open to the public, the brilliant presentation, which primarily in the quality of the artistic works and the interior tension surpasses all retrospectives of Amadeo Modigliani organized to the present. This is an exhibition that for the true art lover is worth the travel, as to see so great a number of works and of such quality is truly rare, even for artists with a more extensive opus of paintings. The retrospective shows works from the most important museums, foundations, and private collections of the world, including material from previously completely ignored collectors of Modigliani. To see all of this in one place is a true rarity.
Modigliani’s opus certainly should be placed in the framework of European modern art at the beginning of the twentieth century, with his artistic affirmation occurring only after his death. He lived for a short time, only thirty-six years, but nonetheless the artist left behind a powerful opus of paintings and sculpture, as well as a romantic-tragic legend of the master from Livorno, which does not cease to grow.
ART AS THE MAGIC OF HAPPINESS
Success and the lack of it alternated successively in his life, but Modigliani as an exceptionally intelligent person was aware that success is in fact only incidental for artistic destiny, while failure happens to true and original artists, in line with Oscar Wilde’s phrase: "A great success, followed by a great calamity". In this manner, the artist comprehends the true essence of his art, the meaning of life, the sense and substance of his art. Success can be an advantage for an artist if it leads to avoidance of bitterness and at the same time the self-confidence that allows him or her to create in complete freedom and joyfulness, which are both the elements and secrets of artistic beauty.
Amadeo Modigliani was an artist and individual of firm traits of character, with an emphasized literal philosophic erudition, immersed in art. The profession of painter and sculptor gave him the magic of strength, power, and through the artistic works, the magic of luck/happiness, which the reality of life most often refused him.
What is visible in the works of Modigliani, whether a drawing, painting or sculpture, is the desire of the artist to preserve the purity of sensation that the artist skillfully organizes into a integrated symbolic system, which in this manner aids in the transmission of clear and forceful artistic messages.
The desire is visible in him for an intensification of individual sensations and a relentlessness, not risking anything in technical-aesthetic dilemmas and experiments, in contrast, for example, to someone like Picasso, who was prepared to try out the most varied adventures and techniques in painting.
It can be best illustrated and seen in this retrospective to what extent Modigliani developed and constructed one style, recognizable in content, which has its psychological and philosophical dimensions, and which is truly a fact that is neglected as a rule in critical judgments of his work. The fact is that the critics have recognized that Modigliani introduced modernity into the reality of his age, however, his artistic milieu in this same time, at the beginning of the 20th century, endeavored above all in the discovery, promotion, and conception of the innovative in an artistic work. This factor in consequence created a comprehensive limit of success among the critics of the time.
Modigliani lived life at an exciting tempo, mixing alcohol, drugs, and complicated love stories, with reserved and often unfair criticism, a poor material state, and very bad health, which was all too much for one human being, even if that being was called Amadeo Modigliani.
SENSUALITY WITH A NOTE OF THE PROVOCATIVE
"The Prince of Montparnasse", the nickname he received after death, truly displayed the most in the portraits he painted. In their composition, often in provocative poses, full of sensuality, Modigliani can rightfully be classified as an artist continuing in the brilliant Italian painting tradition, and particularly as a continuator of the brilliant pleiad of painters of Italian primitive art, whose "L’art populaire" left permanent traces in the history of art, and also made significant contributions to European modern painting. Modigliani, with his distinctive method, thanks to a solid painterly erudition, and though his own painterly and artistic temperament, queried tradition. In this, Modigliani exhibited all his sensibilities. What pictorial European modernism built and fed on at the beginning of the 20th century were primitive African art and the archaic sculpture of the Cyclades. While Cubism engendered a grimace from this, Modigliani generated gracefulness. This can mainly be seen in his sculpture, in the purity of line which he also derived from his friend and teacher Constantin Brancusi, who supported him in his sculptural aims (see illustration no. 3), Unfortunately Modigliani could not work much or for very long on his sculpture given the state of his health, as he suffered from tuberculosis. Physical exertion was not recommended. Another reason was his poverty and the expense of materials required for sculpting.
His sculptures have the same constants as his paintings on canvas: elongated simple and primary forms. When his sculpture is viewed in more detail, the source of inspiration can clearly be seen: first the naïve artists of Siena, then African ritual arts, masks and totems, and certainly Constantin Brancusi, with whom his sculptural enthusiasms began. A look, for instance, at Brancusi’s "Tète de jeune fille" (Head of a Young Girl) from 1907 is sufficient. It is visible both in the technique itself and in form that Modigliani adopted the simplification of form from the great Romanian artist. Yet another positive and important element that arose from his involvement in sculpture is the fact that Modigliani achieved certainty and power in his drawing, most often formed with slender and broad graphic elements, which the artist fervently refined.
In terms of painting, sensuality is the first term that can be applied to Modigliani’s artistic expression, which contains in itself a certain dose of provocativeness, which was to be part of the criticism directed towards him, giving him in this manner a connotation of a sentimental mannerism, which despite the seductiveness, makes his work seem fragile. Seen from a historical distance, this was too severe an evaluation, which additionally was unfounded.
The wealth of material of his palette is present, but in an entirely small extent, without too much emphasis, with an absolutely sure and brilliant culture of applying the brush, most often in a regular horizontal manner. With a stroke of the brush he often underlined a form expressed in mingling nuances, encircling light lines and emphasizing the expressive relief. This element represented a certain problem to the critics. The volumes that had been encircled by the gesture gave the works a certain illustrative character. Modigliani used a small number of colors: black and gray, ocher, dark brown, and finally blue and green to emphasize the composition, which was to experience changes only in the last two years of creation, when the palette of colors would open, become freshened and brighter, which corresponds to the period of his great happiness in love with Jeanne H�buterne.
TIN UJEVIC AND MODIGLIANI
Paris in the years around the First World War was the gathering place of all European intellectual and artistic elite, with Montparnasse as the center. Painters, sculptors, men of letters, and politicians. This was the center and place where one could meet Picasso, Cocteau, Ilja Erenburg, Anna Akhmatova, Max Jacob, Kisling, Derain, Apollinaire, Reverdy, Cendras, Andr� Salamon, Breton, Trotsky, Lenin… and the Croatian writer Tin UjeviÊ.
One of the main meeting places of the artistic elite was the Caf� La Rotonde, on the corner of Boulevard Montparnasse and Boulevard Raspail. Although Tin UjevicÊ was to bravely and somewhat egocentrically state: "It seems that I brought the Rotunda into international literature", from a historical distance he would certainly be disproved, particularly when one sees the names of others who put down roots there along with Ujevic and Modigliani. However, Ujevic’s observations are of interest to us when he states: "…I hung out with the late Modigliani, and knew Picasso and others…" (Collected Works, VII, 407-409), "…before the war I had seen Modigliani about, and later I talked to him, exclusively about literature. He was quite well informed, if not in terms of texts, then perhaps in terms of communication with artists. Modigliani was drinking then, walking around without a hat, shaving carelessly, but he was still quick-witted. After his death in 1920, the paintings were sold for fantastic prices, and he had been washing from the same sink in which he…". "… I heard that he was once a darling of the ladies, one rich woman gave him a ring, and another girl friend (Jeanne H�buterne, note A. G.) died after him. He wasn’t an Adriatic imperialist." (Collected Works, XIV, 74-75). "Modigliani, who was well-read and knew how to hold a conversation, was most prominent in terms of alcohol, particularly in the last years of his life." (Collected Works, XVI, 549-550). If in nothing else, then we can certainly believe Ujevic in this last affirmation about alcohol, in which he himself was truly an expert, and definitely a consumer.
THE SEVEN STAGES OF CREATIVITY
The Modigliani retrospective has been conceived in seven integral groups, which extend in chronological order according to the date of creation of the artistic work. All of the rooms are lighted in a discreet obscurity, while the artistic works are hung on a metal-structural labyrinth, without walls, without perimeters, which offers the viewer the possibility of surprising visual superimpositions, as well as seeing the back of the paintings, on which Modigliani in his poverty and privation often made sketches or even painted on both sides of the canvas. The entrance to the museum is decorated with two giant photographic portraits of Modigliani and his lover Jeanne H�buterne, who committed suicide only a day after the death of Modigliani, with whom she had had a daughter. She was in the eighth month of pregnancy with another child when she decided to take her own life, as an act reflecting hopelessness and love for the handsome Italian.
THE DELTA ADVENTURE
The first phase is called "The Delta Adventure", which is related to the arrival of Modigliani in Paris as a classically oriented painter and the contact with his first maecenas, Paul Alexandre, a young doctor, and his brother Jean, a pharmacist, who were to be Modigliani’s first promoters, collectors, and patrons.
The Alexandre brothers found a dilapidated house, in Delta Street, which they placed at the disposal of an artistic colony that consisted, in addition to Modigliani, of Brancusi, Gleizes, La Fauconnier, and Max Jacob. This was the phase of searching for himself among traces of C�zanne, Matisse, and Derain. The first works can be placed in a direct connection and line with the post-C�zanne movement, in which the hallmark of plasticity dominates the motif, in which the artist’s style overcomes the subjectivity of the work. One thing is certain, that he chose to paint his portraits, which were a significant part of his artistic opus, frontally, with a direct gaze. The only exception to this rule was a single expressionistic portrait in profile "Tète de femme de profile" (Head of a Woman in Profile), from 1907, dedicated to his friend and patron Paul Alexandre.
The most important work of this period is "Le joueur de violoncelle" (The Cello Player) from 1909, with a sketch for a portrait of Constantin Brancusi on the back. The work is painted without anecdote, as is the case with the brilliant portrait of Maurice Drouard, which will lead to comparisons to the best portraits by C�zanne. However, on the back of the portrait of Jean Alexandre the painting "Nu assis" (Seated Nude) shows his entire debt to and admiration for C�zanne, as is also the case with the work "Le Mediant de Livourne" (Beggar from Livorno) from the same period. The first artistic work in which Modigliani will divest and "cleanse" everything superfluous is "Buste de jeune femme (Buts of a young woman) from 1911, in which the artist retains only what is essential. This is also the first work to give notice of the elongated heads, noses, and necks, the "deformations" of his portraits, so characteristic for Modigliani. At the same time, this was part of the transition of Modigliani towards sculpture. In addition to the above, the work has its own colorist independence, freedom of application and transparency of successive applications, which give the work both a precision and freedom of brush, expressed in a unity of creative effervescence.
THE TEMPLE OF VOLUPTUOUSNESS
The second section encompasses the period 1911-1913, called "Temple de la Volupte" (The Temple of Voluptuousness), the period dedicated to the work of Modigliani on sculpture and the paintings of the Caryatid cycle series, in which the artist was inspired by models from Greek Archaic sculpture, Etruscan statuettes, or even African "l’art negre". The Caryatid series were also to serve as preliminary investigative sketches for his sculptural opus. When referring to Modigliani’s sculpture, mention should be made of the close relations of the artist with one of the greatest sculptors of the 20th century, Constantin Brancusi, who was both teacher and friend to him. One of the models in the early period was the great Russian poetess Ana Akhmatova, who posed for portraits for Modigliani over twenty times, and noted: "You must understand that the resemblance with the model didn’t interest him, merely the pose". Akhmatova was to appear in various roles in Modigliani’s opus. One time she is an Egyptian princess with a graceful body and beautiful face, another time a provocative nude… Akhmatova was to succeed in preserving from the numerous portraits, despite Stalinist persecution, only one drawing, as a sign of the love shared between the poetess and the painter. One of these portraits is perhaps disguised under the title Mademoiselle Grain de Caf� (Miss Coffee Bean) from 1911-1912. In this period, Modigliani created one work on a board "Nu debut sur fond de jardin" (Nude with a Garden Background) from 1913 (see illustration no. 4), the work for the first time shown in an exhibition. It depicts a woman painted in a monochromic red aura in a frontal pose and with distinctly open arms, while in the background is a garden with palm leaves, with which an additional colorist and contemplative effect is achieved. The nude itself is treated and the model painted as had been done by Henri Matisse in La Danse (1909-1910) or in La Musique (1910), in the collection of the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg. The artist sought a firm and rigorous construction of simplified forms and planes that play with light, bathing in light, as light bathes Modigliani’s sculptures. The painting "Grande buste rouge" (Large Red Bust) from 1913, in which the purification of form is most evidently shown, in this work with a monochromic background on which the artist reconstructs the human form, bounded with a broad blue border that emphasizes it, creates in this manner what is known as the Modigliani canon.
PAUL GUILLAUME
The third section encompasses the period of working with Paul Guillaume, a well known Parisian collector and gallery owner from the beginning of the 20th century, who took Modigliani under his wing when Dr. Alexandre left for the front in 1914. This gallery owner of the Paris avant-garde was primarily interested in Modigliani as a painter, but not as a sculptor: perhaps this was the reason that in four portraits of P. Guillaume by Modigliani, the painter does not express much feeling or tenderness toward his model, who was his gallery owner patron. In the same period, the artist experimented with a series of expressionist portraits of Diego Rivera, Rose Porprina, Madame Othon Friesz, Georges Ch�ron, and an entire series of Beatrice Hastings, Modigliani’s extravagant love of the moment. Certainly the portraits of Rivera and one colorist portrait of the poet Pierre Reverdy, whose review Nord-Sud was to be the gathering point of the surrealists Apollinaire, Max Jacob, Tzara, Breton, Soupault, Aragon, are the most powerful in this period.
THE PERIOD OF CUBISM
The fourth group of works encompasses the works of Modigliani from the Cubist period. This could in fact be termed "belated Cubism", considering the date at which Georges Braque and Picasso and the other Cubist originators had founded the aesthetics of this movement, which had already received its international affirmation. This period is marked by several exceptional portraits, including the one titled "Madame Pompadour", today in the Art Institute in Chicago, and which in reality depicts the English writer Beatrice Hastings, the turbulent lower of Modigliani during this period. The work contains a three-tonal chromatic simplicity in the play of line that suggests volume and sculpturality, but also the painter’s inspiration in his model.
These were difficult years for the artistic colony in Montparnasse, as many painters and writers, friends of Modigliani, were involved in the First World War. Caf� La Rotonde, the most important meeting place of the literary and artistic avant-garde, with a great number of noted painting greats of the time, where Modigliani was a regular guest, was no longer so noisy. According to many testimonies, primarily those of Andr� Salamon, Cocteau, as well as Tin UjevicÊ, the painter was a welcome guest, a good conversationalist, with refined manners, always elegant even in moments of the greatest poverty, surrounded with many elegant women, and immediately after his death, he began to be called the Prince of Montparnasse. He socialized quite a lot with Picasso, who was not on the front. This was not a friendship, but Modigliani dedicated one portrait to him in 1915, giving it the interesting title "Picasso savoir" (Picasso Know-It-All), which Modigliani would also aesthetically arrange according to the great Catalan. The title of the portrait is full of irony, alluding to the frequent aesthetic turnabouts of Picasso, who changed styles like a shirt. The portrait of the poet Raimond Radiguet is far more powerful and sensitive, as are the portraits of his friends the artist Moïse Kisling or the Russian sculptor L�on Indenbaum. Indenbaum was painted in very cold tones, gray and olive nuances, while the face is entirely haggard, pale, and withered, as if the war and poverty can be read from this face, but where at the same time one can also read the goodness and simplicity of the artist.
The problem of representation as well as the problem of sensation reflected through a subject and color are the two key halves of modern painting that have not been solved. This cubism of Modigliani, after physical cubism from 1908, analytical cubism from 1910, and decorative cubism from 1913, to which this phase of Modigliani can be assigned, after all difficulties represents the success of pure and creative ideas, the end of irreconcilable speculation in reference to form, space, and the valorization of the canvas in itself.
THE FACE: THE MASK OF THE SOUL
The new period encompasses the years 1916 and 1917, under the title The Face: The Mask of the Soul, a title that is eloquent in terminology and says enough for itself. In the work "La servante" (The Servant) from 1915, he showed a very clear interest in the aesthetics of Fauvism, and immediately afterwards in 1916, he painted "Victoria", a work with significant use of material, and in a tendency to economy of color, he reduced his palette to three tones from the same sources.
Jean Cocteau spoke in this way about the painting of Modigliani in this period: "For Modigliani, resemblance is so strong that he succeeds, just like Lautrec, in this resemblance expressing itself, surprising those who had never known the model. Resemblance is nothing other than a pretext through which the painter affirms his own painting. Naturally, not the physical painting, rather the mysterious one, his genius" (Jean Cocteau, Modigliani, Paris 1951).
The portrait "Marguerite assise" (Marguerite Seated) from 1916 depicts the sister of the artist, whose portrait was done from memory, in which the artist utilized a large dose of realism, without too much deformation, and the expression of the face, the preciseness of definition of the eyes is entirely realistic. The expression on her face is painted with melancholy, which is aided by the very gentle dress in pink tones, which can be found reflected in the glow of the face, treated in the same nuances, as if the artist wishes to say with this portrait how much he missed his family.
This period also saw two other important portraits of artists. The first is of Manuel Humbert Estève, depicted in a characteristic pose of severity, which is emphasized by black and red tones, while the other is a truly unique portrait of the Ukrainian artist Chaïm Soutine. The portrait gives off freshness and power, and on Soutine’s face one can read the closeness of the artist and his model. The contrast of the background painted in dark tones, while the figure of his friend and his clothes are in mild, warm tones of ocher, show at the same time all the discomfort in the expression of the eyes and the look of Soutine at finding himself in the role of a model. Soutine was to be the subject of an entire series of drawings and canvases, just like Kisling, Max Jacob, Jacques Lipchitz, Jean Cocteau, but also a series of the first drawings of Jeanne Hebuterne, his last great love, with her Botticelli-like angel face and long braids. "Jeannette" was to be the inspirational model with which the author was to testify to all the love and emotion he felt towards his mate, who returned his love in full measure.
THE FULLNESS OF EXPRESSION
The section that encompasses the years 1917-1918 is the period in which the artist was to be cared for by a Polish poet, later Modigliani’s gallery dealler, L�opold Zborowski, who was also dealler for Utrillo, Derain, Soutine, Kisling, etc., and who thanks to the financier Jones Netter defended and diffused with all his energy artists who were not understood in the times in which they lived. Zborowski and his wife Hanka (see illustration no. 5) were also prominent as Modigliani’s models. One of these portraits of Hanka Zborowski in the collections of the National Gallery of Modern Art in Rome is truly a compelling and sensational portrait, which contains all the rigorousness of the classical portrait, a balanced composition, a distant gaze, a supreme stature, which leads the observer into a blissful state of admiration. The work exudes non-temporality, simplicity, and pureness of expression, almost minimalist mannerisms.
Modigliani also dedicated a series of portraits to Lunia Czechowska, whom Modigliani discovered at the Zborowski home, where she was staying, with whom a platonic love and friendship would smolder until Modigliani’s death. A portrait from this series in the Museum in São Paulo should be noted, as it exhibits the most complete harmony, and the sad expression is even more emphasized by the expressive background. The collection of the same museum contains an exceptional portrait of Madame Georges Van Muyden (see illustration no. 7), who would also be the subject of a series of portraits. This is certainly one of the most elegant portraits, where one can perceive on the face a pure gentleness and dignity, an emphasized aristocratic paleness and charm. This portrait should be tied to the brilliant expressionist portrait "Jeanne H�buterne ou collier" (Jeanne H�buterne in a necklace), the subject of which is the abundant and touching expression on the face, which seizes upon the emotions that the artist shared with his model. A series of nudes from this period will cause not a few problems for Modigliani, including threats from the police for disturbing public morals. These works certainly included "Nu couche aux cheveau d�nou�s" (see Illustration no. 6), which was to cause a major scandal because of its lascivious pose in December 1917. His friend, the sculptor Jacques Lipchitz, stated "the interest with which he is inspired by human beings is what explains the exceptional individuality of his portraits, as is shown by the sexual freedom of his nudes". The success of his nudes was such that one of them, "Nu blonde" (Blonde Nude), which had been purchased in 1917 by a collector for only 75 francs was sold the next year for 250,000 francs. Modigliani’s nudes stand out from the background on which they lay, whether it is a divan, rug, or linen. They contain at the same time within themselves both innocence and voluptuousness. One such is the "Nude Lying on the Back" from 1917. This period was to end with an unusual portrait "Fillette en bleu" (Girl in Blue) from 1918, which is truly an authentic masterpiece of painting. The painting in delicate blue tones, the simple and gentle expression of the face with large blue eyes, hair tied with a red ribbon, the face that radiates innocence and artlessness, the balanced composition, sends viewers into a state of distracted reverie.
THE LAST DOOR
The seventh and last period begins with Modigliani leaving for the south of France, badly ill, for recuperation in Nice, where Modigliani would again experience the atmosphere of his childhood. In these last two years of life, it was as if the sky had opened over his painting. Everything that was created in that period seemed to have synthesized only the positive energy in Modigliani’s creativity. First of all, he would paint an opulent series of his mate Jeanne H�buterne, in various poses. At one moment, he painted her as a saint from Siena, the next time using a medieval portrait manner, the third time as a girl of gentleness, naturalness, and elegance, for instance in "Jeune fille rousse" (Red-haired Girl).
A series of portraits of children, quickly executed, in which the painter shows all versions of simplicity, strictness, and economic of mannerism and palette, adding a band of light around the heads of the children, giving them a holy aureole in addition to innocence, such as in "Jeune homme ou l’Etudiant" (Young Man or Student), from 1919, is in the collection of the Guggenheim Museum in New York. This series is impressive in its power, the speed of realization, and the sophisticated background. It is clear that the painter realized that his end was near, and financial difficulties greatly pressured him, which gave him additional creative force. The portrait of a young woman (see illustration no. 8), in the collection of the Museum of New Orleans, is one of such expressive portraits, which is definitely in contrast to the portrait of Pierre-Eduard Baranowski, a Polish painter known for his still lives and floral landscapes. Modigliani painted him, it could almost be said with mannerist precision, while the slanting head places him in an androgynous pose of self-satisfaction, in a very successful study in the colorist sense.
In the south of France, Modigliani also painted a series of landscapes, which are true rarities in his opus, but it is as if he wanted to say, with premonitions of the end shortly to come, that he should not be considered exclusively a portraitist. In them Modigliani is close to his Italian climes and origins, while at the same time, the landscapes lack neither in charm nor in conviction.
The second part of the period was to represent a step further in opening the palette of the painter, as is visible in the portraits of Zborowski and his wife Hanka from 1919, and especially in the one of Roger Dutilleul, to be completed with a third portrait of Lunia Czechowski, a work of great power and inspiration, which can be placed among the masterpieces of the Italian great painters.
His consort Jeanne was painted on various occasions while pregnant, in the intimacy of the bedroom with one very gentle source of light, awaiting the child. The gradual path to opening the painter’s palette can be seen in the portraits of Thor Dardel and Annie Bjarne, two young Swedish artists who Modigliani met by chance, using them as models.
The last work of Modigliani was his one and only self-portrait (see illustration no. 9), which he painted just a week before his death, and which was to be his testament in paint. Apparently having a presentiment of death, with the half-turned body, the pathetic look towards the viewer, with the painter’s palette in his hand, harmonized in a single rhythm and expression with the body, half-shut eyes, like curtains going down, as if the artist wishes to tell us: Ecce homo!
Catalogue: 428 pages, format 28 x 24 cm.Curated by Marc Rostellini. Through March 2, 2003
THE CHRONOLOGY OF THE LIFE OF AMADEO MODIGLIANI
1884 — On the 12th of July Amadeo Clementeo Modigliani was born as the fourth child in the Italian Jewish family of Flaminio and Eugenia Grasin Modigliani in Livorno, at 33 via Roma.
1886 — After bankruptcy the family moved to a smaller apartment in the same city. His grandfather Isaac Garsin was an erudite inseparable companion to his grandson, teaching him about philosophy, art, and literature until his death in 1894.
1895 — The first signs of pleurisy.
1898 — Modigliani began drawing lessons at the atelier of Guglielm Micheli. His health declined with lung complications.
1899 — He left secondary school and devoted himself to painting.
1900 — Double pleurisy with the first signs of tuberculosis, doctors diagnosed a serious state of health.
1901 — He travelled with his mother for recuperation to Naples, Capri, Amalfi, Rome, Florence, and Venice. He visited numerous galleries and museums.
1902 — He enrolled in the Scuola Libera di Nudo in Florence, supervised by Fattori. During the summer he worked on sculptures at Pietrasanta near Carrara.
1903 — He moved to Venice, enrolled in the Institute of Fine Arts, studying Bellini, Carpaccio, and the painters of the Siena school. He became friends with Umberto Boccioni and Guido Cadorino.
1905- He left Venice for Paris by way of Florence. He enrolled in the Acad�mie de la Grande Chaumière in Montparnasse. He lived in Montmartre where he met Picasso, Derain, Appolinaire, Diego Rivera, Jacques Lipchitz and Max Jacob.
1907 — He met Dr. Paul Alexandre, a young doctor, the first collector and patron of the artist up to 1914. He became friends with Maurice Utrillo. He discovered the works of C�zanne
