A painter and sculptor from Livorno, Modigliani held only one show of his own: in December 1917, at Berthe Weill's gallery, where the police had the nudes taken out of the window. He died of tubercular meningitis on 24 January 1920; the next day Jeanne Hébuterne, eight months pregnant, threw herself from a fifth-floor window. The Hébuternes waited ten years before letting her join him, and the two epitaphs on the slab were not cut by the same hand.
The story
Modigliani reached Paris in 1906 and settled in Montmartre, in the rue Caulaincourt, a few doors from the Bateau-Lavoir where Picasso and his friends were working. In 1912 he showed a series of elongated stone heads at the Salon d'automne, then gave up carving: the dust was attacking lungs already tubercular.
In the spring of 1917 he met Jeanne Hébuterne, nineteen, a student at the Académie Colarossi; she would leave her parents to live with him in the rue de la Grande-Chaumière. On 3 December the only solo exhibition of his life opened at Berthe Weill's gallery: the police station was directly opposite, and the commissaire had the nudes taken out of the window on the first day.
A daughter, named Jeanne like her mother, was born in Nice on 29 November 1918. Modigliani died on 24 January 1920 of tubercular meningitis, at thirty-five. His neighbours had found him delirious, holding the hand of Jeanne, eight months pregnant.
The next day, 25 January, Jeanne Hébuterne threw herself from the fifth floor of her parents' flat at 8 bis rue Amyot, where they had brought her back the day before. She was twenty-one. Her family, who had never accepted the affair, had her buried at the cemetery of Bagneux.
Modigliani was buried at Père-Lachaise on 27 January 1920, followed by the whole of Montparnasse. It took until 1930 for the Hébuternes to allow their daughter to be moved to his side: the two names on the one slab date from that year. Their daughter Jeanne, taken in by the painter's family, lies at Père-Lachaise too, in the columbarium. In November 2015 one of his nudes was knocked down at 170 million dollars.
The grave
A slab of pale stone, barely sloped, with no cross and no sculpture: its whole weight lies in two epitaphs cut in Italian, one below the other. The painter's ends on three lines: “morte lo colse, quando, giunse alla gloria” — death took him as he was reaching glory. Jeanne Hébuterne's, cut ten years later, names her only through him: “di Amédeo Modigliani, compagna devota fino all estremo sacrifizio” — of Amédeo Modigliani, devoted companion unto the ultimate sacrifice. Two details betray the ten years between the two texts: the painter's first name, written “AMEDEO” on his side and “AMÉDEO” on hers, and Jeanne's birthplace, cut as “a Parigi” when she was born at Meaux.
On site, do not miss
The two dates of death are twenty-four hours apart. Then look at how his own name is written twice: “AMEDEO” in his epitaph, “AMÉDEO” with a French accent in Jeanne's, cut ten years later.
Visitors' questions
Who is buried with Modigliani?
Jeanne Hébuterne, his companion, a painter herself, who died the day after he did: he went on 24 January 1920, and she threw herself from a fifth-floor window on the 25th, eight months pregnant. Her parents had her buried at Bagneux first; the two bodies were not reunited until 1930.
Jeanne HébuterneWhere is Modigliani's grave?
In Division 96, avenue Transversale n°1, fourth row, in the upper, eastern part of the cemetery. Look for a slab of pale stone lying almost flat, with no cross and no sculpture — there are nearly always flowers on it.
Max ErnstWhat did Modigliani die of?
Tubercular meningitis, on 24 January 1920, at thirty-five, in the poverty of Montparnasse. He had held a single solo exhibition in his life and had sold almost nothing; in 2015 one of his nudes went for 170 million dollars.
Gustave CaillebotteWhat does the grave's epitaph say?
It is a double epitaph and entirely in Italian. His ends on three lines: “morte lo colse, quando, giunse alla gloria” — death took him as he was reaching glory. Jeanne Hébuterne's, cut ten years later, calls her “compagna devota fino all estremo sacrifizio”, devoted companion unto the ultimate sacrifice.
Thomas CoutureAudio guide to Père Lachaise: the best unusual guided tour!
Discover the secrets of the most astonishing tombs
the audio guidefrom€6.99