New Graphic Novel Explores Modigliani's Turbulent Life

Ernesto Anderle, known for previous graphic novels on Van Gogh, Raphael, and Caravaggio, has released a new comic biography titled "Modigliani." Published by Beccogiallo, the book is framed by a question posed in 1930 by the painter's daughter, Jeanne Modigliani, to her grandmother Eugénie: "What was dad like?" The narrative follows Jeanne's journey to uncover her father's personality and hidden biographical details. The story blends fiction with historical events, tracing Modigliani's career from Livorno to Paris in the early 1900s, with stops in Florence (where he enrolled at the Scuola libera di Nudo in 1902) and Venice (which he left in 1906 for Paris). The graphic novel focuses on his French period, depicting his professional struggles and triumphs, nights in cabarets, friendships (notably with Maurice Utrillo, the book's narrator), and relationships with women including poet Anna Akhmatova, model Kiki de Montparnasse, and Jeanne Hébuterne. The love story with Hébuterne dominates much of the volume. Anderle writes in the preface that Modigliani never painted more than one subject in a portrait, using portraiture as a means of self-discovery. The book is 176 pages, priced at €19.50, and was published in 2023.