Was born in Livornio on 12 July 1884. His family was Jewish, his father a merchant and his mother, who spoke various languages, a very cultured woman. As a young boy his health was delicate and when he was 11 years old he became ill with pneumonia, although this did not affect his studies in a school of the city. Three years later he contracted typhoid fever (which brought about lung complications) and had to abandon his studies. It was during this period of resting and treatment that his desire to paint was aroused - something which did not please his mother very much. When he recovered he enrolled at the workshop of a landscape painter named Micheli. Barely two years passed until he came down with a tuberculosis which almost cost him his life. His mother then took him on a trip to Italy where he went to Amalfi, Capri and Rome, among other places.
In 1902 he registered at the School of Fine Arts in Florence and less than a year later became a student at the School of Venice.
He possessed an independent spirit and rejected everything that was not in accordance with the new theories that he had created, although this did not impede his receiving various prizes. In 1906, his mother made his wildest dream come true as she sent him to Paris, where with a few hundred lira in his pockets he felt the richest man in the world. He rented a studio in Montmartre near Bateau Lavois (the house which Picasso and Derain would make famous). This figureof a young Italian, of a beautiful and melancholic face with a deep gaze in his eyes, who always wore a velvet suit, was to become a familiar sight to his neighbours.
He was determined to conquer Paris.
He started to work with enthusiasm while cultivating his friendship with many of the avant-garde painters such as de Gonzaga, Picasso, Max Jacob, Utrillo, etc., with whom he would have long debates on philosophy, aesthetics and poetry - and so left his work aside. He lost all his money and had to move to a more modest dwelling. To earn some money he drew some portraits and then painted them with watercolours in order to increase their value, although this did not accord with his personality and he was left literally on the street without a penny. A group of artists who were in the same position decided, without obtaining the due municipal permission, to occupy a house on Delta Street. A friend of this group and sculptor, who knew of the hardships that Modigliani was going through, helped him enter the community, and he was so happy with this that he presented one of his paintings as a gift to his comrades.
Yet this was not going to last long as he became an addict to both alcohol and drugs and not long afterwards, in a moment of madness broke various sculptures of his friends. The following day, after asking pardon for this incredible deed, he abandoned his living quarters. He then met Max Alexander who became a good friend of his and who occasionally bought some of his paintings in order to help him financially.
In 1907 he participated at the exhibition of the Society of Independent Artists of which he was a member. He also met Brancusi and through him became acquainted with sculpture.
He began to work in Paris and then shortly afterwards created one of the loveliest sculptures he ever made. But his health was not good as he was suffering the consequences of malnutrition, alcohol, drugs and surmenage. He travelled to Livornio in search of refuge at his mother`s house. After recovering, he returned to Paris with a work of art representing a beggar in Liorn, with evident influence from C�zanne.
In 1910 he presented sixpaintings at the Exhibition of the Independent Painters and 2 years later participated at the Autumn Salon with seven sculptures. As the years went by he became more and more addicted to drugs, and as a consequence fell into deeper economic straits. In order to survive, he went back to drawing portraitsand painting them in watercolours and charging for them the same as for a two hour session.
At the Cafe de la Rotonda - which had become the new meeting place of the artists - he used to meet Matisse, Vlamink, Derain, Soutin, Picasso, Leger and others of different schools of painting whose paintings were hanging from the walls.
There they would all discuss different topics. When the First World War broke out, he thought of enlisting but his socialist principles did not allow him to do so and he continued to work. He became overintoxicated with alcohol and would go wandering down the streets shouting “”scandal, scandal!”", which irritated his neighbours very much. Whenever a policeman would stop him and ask for identification, he would take out paper and show the policeman some of his paintings declaring that “these are my documents”.
In 1914 he met the English poet Beatrice Hastings and they lived together for a couple of years. This woman deeply influenced him and there are many paintings to evidence this. He was introduced to Paul Guillaumem, an art dealer, who decided to help him.
Destiny put him in contact with the Polish poet Zborowski - who loved art and pawned every cent he had in order to help his friend. He even took care of him in his addictive crises.
In 1917 he met a 19 year-old French student, Juana H�buterne, who went to the School of Decorative art. She gave him all her love and they lived together until his death.
Modigliani had a proud nature and it is said that on one opportunity when a potential purchaser came to see him, Modigliani displayed all his paintings to him with their prices. He was forced to constantly lower the price as in an auction, until at one moment, he rolled the paintings up and made a hole in the middle, attached a string through it and hung them over the toilet. He preferred to lose his works than to be humiliated. He was also very generous, and on one occasion, according to Vlamink, a very hungry painter came close to the table where Amadeo was sitting. Quite casually Amadeo let a 20 franc bill fall to the floor, pushed it discreetly with his foot and said to the poor man: “Look, it looks like a ten franc bill” and left.
In 1917 Zborowski organized the first individual exhibition of Modigliani at the Berthe Weill Gallery, but the police forced him to take down a nude painting that was hanging in the display window - as it was against the public moral - and this resulted in a humiliating failure. In November his daughter was born and named after his mother. Two years of peace and happiness followed, in which he was about to have another child, but Modigliani suddenly became ill with nephritis and then tuberculosis. One day some friends found him lying on a couch in a very high fever. They rushed him to a hospital where after another crisis he died on 24 January 1920 when he was only 36 years old. When his wife found out about his death, she threw herself out the window. Her parents were strict Catholics and did not receive her body into their house nor did they allow her to be buried next to Modigliani. In 1928 they were buried together. It is said that on receiving the news of Modigliani's death, an art dealer ran to see if it was true as it would increase the value of his works of art.
