Amadeo Modigliani (1884-1920) e o templo da beleza: uma utopia figurativa na arte moderna

Abstract

Amedeo Modigliani (1884-1920) and the temple of beauty: a figurative utopia in modern art. The Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani (1884-1920), whose greatest desire in life was to become a sculptor, idealized a temple of beauty, inspired by the classic heritage, composed of countless heads and caryatids, which he named “columns of tenderness”. From this ambitious dream that lasted until 1914, reached us drawings and some sculptures, in which we can see a part of what this monument would be and that, due to the artist’s poor health, and also to its utopian dimension, never became totally materialised. However, the originality of this project, as well as the prodigious effort it contained, since the sculptures were made in direct carving, are worthy of a meditation about the blending between tradition and innovation. Modigliani combined the metaphor of plastic language to the transfiguration of an ancient image that he wisely adapted to a modern ideal, thus creating a project that, being part of his artistic tribute to mankind, even today presents itself as holder of an extraordinary uniqueness.