Jeanne Hebuterne (1918) by Modigliani Statue

Two years before his death Amedeo painted a portrait of his 21-year-old Jeanne HZ Buterne with a big straw hat. He had lived together with this fair-skinned, auburn-haired young artist since 1916. Jeanne's portrait with a big straw hat is considered the most beautiful of the sixteen portraits Amedeo painted of her. With his typical use of colours, inspired by Byzantine art, he paints a modest, friendly Jeanne in geometric forms. The portrait is painted in the year that Jeanne becomes pregnant with their daughter Giovanna. Two years later she becomes pregnant again but ends her own life the day after Amedeo dies.

Amedeo Modigliani's work is recognized immediately by many people because of the typical elongated shapes. His paintings show his passion for sculpting, a craft which he had to give up in 1915 due to ill health. He was born in the Tuscan town of Livorno and received his academic education in Florence and Venice. In 1906 he established himself in the famous Montmartre area in Paris, where his talent was instantly recognized by the East European avant-garde. He had a short and eventful artistic life (1884-1920), he was extremely driven and longed for recognition. But his life was also marked by alcoholism, metaphysical fears and progressive tuberculosis. At the age of forty, Modigliani left the world an oeuvre that shows a sincere, obsessive search for truth and purity within art.