Modigliani’s Studio
When Modigliani returned to Livorno from Paris he was dedicating himself to sculpture, that he didn’t abandon until 1914 when the work became unsustainable, not only for his financial situation, but especially for his uncertain health.
According to his friends of Livorno, when Modigliani returned to his hometown he asked insistently to help him to find a place to use as a studio and to help him also to obtain some stones, those to pave the streets.
He found a space in via Gherardi del Testa, near the Central Market, which became his studio and then he was no longer seen by his friends, completely absorbed by his work.
When he decided to return to Paris he had no possibility to bring his sculptures with him, it would be difficult and expensive, but he had to free the room he had rented as a studio.
According to the famous legend, he asked for advice from his fiends and them, who evaluated his works ugly, invite him to throw him in the ditches to get rid of them. Modigliani, hit by those criticisms, threw the sculpture in the ditches for real.
There is, however, another version, more recent and even more accredited: Modigliani, leaving his studio, asked for help from Roberto Simoncini, a seller of Central Market, who kept his sculpture and other personal items. These sculptures were presented to the press in 1991. After long hardships they have been officially recognized as authentic, but they are not yet publicly exposed.
