Modigliani
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The word ANIMA comes from the Greek and has the same root as ànemos, wind. Soul is so ineffable that the ancients referred to it using the idea of wind.
One knows wind by the effects it causes; one does not have a direct perception of it.
In Modigliani’s paintings the soul emerges from the eyes, it cannot be seen but it is there, just like the wind.
Modigliani during his short life as an artist (he died at age 36) made 400 paintings.
He did several nudes, only 4 landscapes, the rest are all portraits.
What was it about people that intrigued him? Why did everything else interest him so little?
Artists at that time were painting landscapes, the beauties and colors of nature, the city, urban life, still lifes, or they had taken the avant-garde route. Modigliani, on the other hand, stayed locked in his studio and portrayed friends, acquaintances, and artists. The face is almost a mask, traced by a thin black line, the colors are dull, between background and figure they change little. But each time those carved eyes capture the viewer’s attention.
Modigliani’s portraits are an extraordinary opportunity to look into each other’s eyes, to glimpse the ineffable, to talk about the soul, the state of the soul, emotions, the self. Those portraits help us gain clarity about what we feel, because one eye looks out and the other looks in.
By playing to give voice to those eyes, we also express something about ourselves.
In Livorno, the artist’s hometown, you can visit his house at 8 Via Roma and see some of his works at the Museo Civico Giovanni Fattori – Comune di Livorno
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