The Making of Modigliani: The Venice Years
- Rossella BLUE Mocerino
- Mar 16, 2022
- 5 min read
Updated: Jul 20
Amedeo Modigliani was a short man, but what he lacked in stature, he made up for in determination. From a young age, he knew he wanted to be an artist and nothing else. His artistic journey began in Livorno, where he was born into a middle-class Jewish family, continued in Florence, and eventually led to Venice, where he resided from 1903 to 1905. These Italian stops were mere stepping stones to his ultimate destination: Paris, the epicenter of the avant-garde art movement of the era.
Modigliani was not quite 19 years old when he decided to study in Venice. He enrolled at the Scuola Libera del Nudo del Regio Istituto di Belle Arti (now known as the Accademia di Belle Arti). On his own, he planned to study the masterworks of Bellini, Carpaccio, and the Sienese School. As it turned out, he rarely attended classes at the institute. Instead, he diligently visited local museums and churches to study the masters of the past, while staying closely tuned to the work of his contemporaries. In the Venice Civic Museums, he also had access to collections of African art and wooden sculptures. Additionally, he attended the Venice Biennale in both 1903—where several of his friends were exhibiting—and 1905.
Modigliani made his entrance into Venice by staying in comfort for a few days in Calle Larga XXII Marzo—an area of Venice flanked by high-end boutiques to this day. His stay was funded by his uncle Amédée Garsin, who supported him financially throughout his Venetian years. Modigliani’s signature style was distinct: a black velvet jacket worn over a shirt with a wide, upturned collar.
After his extravagant stay near San Moisè in the San Marco district, Modigliani moved into a far more modest 50-square-meter apartment at Campiello Centopietre alla Toletta in Dorsoduro. At another point during his stay, he lived at Ca’ Morosina (No. 2802) in Campo Santo Stefano, near the Accademia Bridge. In those days, Venice was an economically struggling city, making affordable housing easy to find.
Dedo, as he was affectionately called by his family, suffered from tuberculosis—a condition that deeply impacted both his stay in Venice and his artistic trajectory. After a few months of living in Venice, he traveled to Pietrasanta in Tuscany to work with marble. Though he dreamed of being a sculptor, his failing health intervened, forcing him to rely primarily on painting. In the summer of 1903, under medical advice, he spent two months recovering in the Dolomites. His mother, always supportive of her son, noted that he was “carefree, writing and working, drawing and painting.” A few trips back to Livorno also punctuated his Venetian years.
Another address worth mentioning is No. 1888 in the San Marco neighborhood, near La Fenice. "The Livornese"—as Modigliani was nicknamed by his friends—was introduced to the Olper family by his mother, and they served as a key support system during his first days in Venice. Among his earliest Venetian portraits were those of Leone Olper, a professor of Latin, and his young daughter, Albertina. During this period, Modigliani required only a couple of sittings, painting a few hours a day to complete roughly one canvas per week. Beyond his studio work, he sketched constantly in cafés and everywhere else he went, including brothels.
Modigliani struck up acquaintances easily, and Venice was no exception. He fell in with a vibrant, up-and-coming artistic crowd that included Futurist painter Umberto Boccioni, engraver Fabio Mauroner (with whom Modigliani would later share a studio), painter Guido Marussig, and the very young artist Guido Cadorin. On their endless walks, they introduced him to a lesser-known Venice. Caffè Florian was open all day, serving as a hub for the city’s intellectual and artistic elite. Modigliani was a regular fixture there—and according to those who knew him, he detested being contradicted. Venice was also where he began smoking hashish, drinking absinthe, and exploring spiritualism and the occult.
Modigliani shared a studio with his friend, the Friulian artist Fabio Mauroner, in a palazzo facing the Church of San Sebastiano in Dorsoduro. Mauroner remembered him as having a charismatic presence and a persuasive way of speaking that women of all ages found irresistible. Their shared space featured an anteroom leading into two identical rooms—one of which served as Modigliani’s studio, where nude models were a constant presence.
Mauroner also recalled the hours they spent at Trattoria Montin, located near their studios, discussing subjects dear to their hearts. Here is where Modigliani’s story intersects with my own. Today, Trattoria Montin is known as Locanda Montin, and it is the very place I stay every time I visit this mesmerizing city. I even eat breakfast in the exact room where Modigliani once shared meals with his friends.
In 2002, a plaque was installed on the facade of the palazzo where Modigliani once had his studio. It bears this inscription: “From Venice, I have received life’s most precious teachings.” It’s a quote from a letter he wrote to his friend Oscar Ghiglia, though frankly, I’m not sure what he meant—he was also known to claim he learned more from brothels than from any academic institution. Ultimately, he left Venice dissatisfied. The Modigliani we know today had not yet fully emerged.
Modigliani may well have destroyed most of the work he created in Venice; we know that very little survives today. At one point, he even instructed his family to destroy many of the pieces he had produced in Italy. Out of respect for his wishes, I will not be publishing the few known surviving works from his Venetian period.
Listening to the stories his friends brought back from Paris, Modigliani grew convinced that France was where he belonged. Paris was painted as a haven where artists could express themselves in radical new ways, free from commercial constraints—a place where, despite initial hardships and harsh critique, recognition and success were bound to follow. Why shouldn't he try his luck there, too? When his uncle, who had long supported him financially, passed away in 1905, he left Modigliani an inheritance that finally made the move to Paris possible.
Fabio Mauroner later wrote: “I bought his easels and the few tools from his studio, and Modigliani left for Paris, where I saw him years later... damaged from illness and deprivation, but disdainful of any concession to the tastes of the public.” Mauroner continued: “His painful ending... happened a few years later, just when a ray of hope was springing up for him.”
Modigliani’s work was finally beginning to gain recognition. Today, he is celebrated as one of the most important artists of the 20th century.
The research for this post was made possible by the extensive archives at the main branch of the New York Public Library, supplemented by texts consulted at the Biblioteca Marciana in Piazza San Marco. Sources include the diary of Modigliani’s mother, Eugénie Garsin; the correspondence of his sister, Margherita; works by key biographers Christian Parisot and Franco Tagliapietra (who has written extensively on Modigliani’s Venetian period); the autobiography Acquaforte by fellow artist and friend Fabio Mauroner; research by his daughter, Jeanne Modigliani, who dedicated her life to uncovering the truth about her father; personal accounts from friends; and Modigliani’s own letters, particularly those to his close friend Oscar Ghiglia.
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