The Introduction of the Works by Amedeo Modigliani: 11. The Beggar of Livorno (1909)

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Modigliani Institute Korea (MIK) is currently introducing artworks of Amedeo Modigliani one by one every week.

The 11th work to introduce this week is “The Beggar of Livorno (1909)”, an oil painting on canvas having a size of 66 cm x 52.7 cm.

This was the only work Modigliani painted in his hometown, Livorno, longing for returning to Paris while staying in Livorno.

In the title of this work, Livorno is sometimes replaced with “Leghorn”, which is the English term for Livorno.

After Modigliani painted this work, he hung it for several months on the wall of his studio in Rue Falguière until it was exhibited at the Salon des Independants in 1910.

In the early years, Modigliani's favorite subjects were portraits of friends and the poor.

The main reason for such model selection was because Modigliani was not able to pay for the model.

But in addition to the issue of model fees, other reason can be found in literary works that have had a great influence on the formation of Modigliani's life values.

Because until just before his death (including when he was able to pay model fees), Modigliani's favorite models were the common and poor people such as children, peasants, and working-class men and women, and he painted mainly the poor throughout his life.

The evidence for this is that the works Modigliani had painted wealthy people are few, except for some of his works including “The Bride and Groom” in 1915.

The year of 1909, when Modigliani painted this work was a time when he was fascinated by Cézanne's work, and Cézanne was one of the most influential artists for an entire generation of painters.

Fascinated by Cézanne's work at the time, Modigliani clearly showed Cézanne's influence in this work along with other work, "The Cellist", which he painted in the same year.

In other words, the structure of the model's face and the intense brush strokes of blue and green colors in particular in this work are reminiscent of Cézanne's style.

It is believed that the reason why Modigliani hung this painting on the wall of his studio for several months before the exhibition was to pay respects to Cézanne as well as the preciousness of this work.

Thank you.