Amedeo Modigliani's Windows to the Soul

 Proclaimed to be a tortured artist, Italian painter Amedeo Modigliani is most famous for his painted portraits subtracting the eyes from the faces. Modigliani considered the eyes to be the "windows of the soul," and he refused to paint eyes without truly knowing the person. 

In Agustín Fuente's The Creative Spark, he discusses relationships between humans and how they have developed over time. His chapter on "Creative Sex" highlights male, female, sexual, gender, and social tendencies. He writes, "a pair-bond is a strong and deep long-term social relationship and may, or may not, involve a sexual relationship" (173.) This deep type of connection that humans create is in someways unlike other species because of the complexities in familiarity, desire, and love. Modigliani's works highlight that true connection that satisfies a generally accepted definition of love through the eyes, or lack thereof, in his paintings. Because of his refusal to paint the eyes of the subject without fully knowing them, or their soul, there is heavy significance in the portraits with eyes being of his love Jeanne.

Following his death at age 35, Modigliani's fiancée Jeanne Hébuterne threw herself from the fifth story of their building, killing herself and their unborn child. She was distraught over his death, and following her suicide Hébuterne's family blamed Modigliani for the death of their daughter. This reminded me of Fuente's view on the unique relationship between mother and child, specifically during pregnancy. He writes "the female and the infant need to be near each other most of the time in the early part of the infant's life" (180.) Although Modigliani and Hébuterne's child did not survive to it's early life, this quote reminded me of how both mother and child passed on together, inseparable even to death. 

Many artists, particularly in the 19th century, portray some sexual aspects in their paintings specifically when depicting women. This emphasis on the viewer's pleasure, indulgence, and objectification is not uncommon. Fuentes writes how "entire subcultures of attraction and politics are built up around them," "them" referencing women's bodies and specifically breasts. However, Modigliani's portrayal of women is stylized, graceful, and respectful. Even when painting nudes, they do not create a suggestive mood but rather a soft, introspective one. They represent beauty and elegance.

Modigliani's paintings represent more than just portraits. He creates a representation of the relationship between the people painted and himself, revealed in how he fills or leaves blank the eyes: the windows to the soul.  Fuentes describes how"Humans evolved the capacity to form tight and lasting bonds between individuals that create psychological and emotional ties that are forged, broken, and remade," (183) and the connections between humans is not lost through Modigliani's paintings.