Large exhibition of works by the Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani(1884–1920) in the museum Atheneum in Helsinki - a traveling project. He has already been to Lille and Budapest. Its curator is Sophie Levy, ex-director of the Museum of Fine Arts of Lille, where, thanks to the gift of the collector Roger Dutilleul, many works by Modigliani are kept.

In the Ateneum Museum, which has a rich art collection, there is only one work by Amedeo Modigliani, and this is “Portrait of the Artist Leopold Survage” in 1918.

Survage, a close friend of the artist, in 1956 corresponded with the Ateneum regarding the purchase of the canvas and its inclusion in the museum collection. One of the letters was recently found in the archive.

The exhibition contains eighty-three works by Modigliani, including paintings, drawings and sculptures. Of course, female portraits brought special fame to the master. Models' almond-shaped eyes, long necks, sloping shoulders - in these techniques one can easily recognize the handwriting of an Italian. Modigliani also portrayed a lot of his friends around him, Pablo Picasso and Constantin Brancusi.

"Portrait of the Artist Leopold Survage"
1918
Finnish National Gallery / Ateneum Art Museum
Photo: Finnish National Gallery / Hannu Aaltonen

"Maternity"
1919
Musée national d'art moderne, / Center de création industrielle, deposited in LaM
Photo: Philip Bernard

"Germaine Survage with Earrings"
1918
Musee des Beaux-Arts, Nancy
Photo: Musée des Beaux-Arts, Nancy / Cliché C. Philippot

"Zborowski with Cane"
1916
Private Collection
Photo Courtesy of Neville Keating Pictures

Renee
1917
Pola Museum of Art, Kanagawa, Japan
Photo Pola Museum of Art, Kanagawa, Japan

"Boy in Short Pants"
c. 1918
Dallas Museum of Art
Photo Dallas Museum of Art

"Woman in a Blue Dress, Seated"
1917-19
Moderna Museum, Stockholm
Photo Moderna Museum, Stockholm

Reclining Nude with Loose Hair
1917
Osaka City Museum of Modern Art, Japan
Photo Osaka City Museum of Modern Art

"Seated Nude With a Shirt"
1917
LaM, Lille Métropole musée d'art moderne, d'art contemporain et d'art brut, Villeneuve
Photo: Philip Bernard

21/12/2016

“No one in their right mind would think of coming to Helsinki in November. Except for you poor thing. Welcome"! With black humor, the Finns are all right, and on the verge of what is permitted, they danced at the Vantaa airport, where arriving guests are met by such a banner.

O Those responsible for creating a new, all-season image of St. Petersburg should take note - our city, which is unpredictable for weather phenomena, will also have a lot of reasons to joke at this time of the year.

Helsinki flirts. This dark, damp winter, the Finnish capital has removed many other European cities with one trick, where it does not occur to laugh at their own shortcomings. Amadeo Modigliani arrived in Helsinki. In such quantity that if all the works were separately, you would not have enough vacation to see them (usually one, maximum two paintings are presented in world museums). And some would not see for any money. The organizers of the exhibition had to persuade the owners of private collections for two years to give their "long necks" into the wrong hands.

Any, to put it fashionably, "startup" must at the first stage, so that it does not become the last, break through distrust, misunderstanding, chicanery and simply human instincts which is sometimes more honestly called stupidity. The exhibition in Helsinki took place “despite”, just like this uncompromising Italian lived. He did not live long, and did not manage to make a single deal in defiance of himself. If you were born in Livorno, where on the city walls you can collect the largest collection of "merda" and "cazzo" dedicated to politicians and other oppressors of the human element, it is impossible otherwise.

Helsinki is rarely praised, especially by Russian tourists. And the city is accustomed not to wait for gifts, but makes them for itself. For the 100th anniversary of Finland, it was hard to imagine a more exclusive gift than Modigliani's exhibition in impenetrable winter. Just before leaving, a neighbor unbalanced, surprised that one of the most exclusive artists in the history of existence was being taken to “some kind of Helsinki, and not to our luxurious cultural capital” homo sapiens. For myself, I explained this reaction by fatigue at work and irritability to everyday chores.

However, collectors met the offer to give away "their charm" in Helsinki in exactly the same way. And if the Finns laugh at themselves in their own airport, then the happy (or unfortunate) owners of Modigliani's works supported their message without any humor. Who will go to this exhibition in Helsinki? In winter? In the wild north?! The chief conductor of the last Sibelius festival in Lahti, Dmitry Slobodenyuk, said that the French greet the music of Sibelius coldly. Therefore, there is a certain “targeting” in the art world too. According to many experts, Modigliani did not suit Helsinki in principle.

The main rationale was that there are no tourists at all in the capital of Finland. But in reality, this is no longer the case. Secondly, in order not to endlessly put stamps about the impenetrable northern December darkness, it is enough to see the cozy Christmas illumination of Helsinki once and want to become a “poor guy” more than once. Thirdly, the Finns themselves, who fight against winter longing with the help of design, spicy food and omega-3, are grateful visitors to exhibitions and symphony concerts. Especially when it comes to an artist with the opposite temperament for them.

Burning glances, audacity of body turns, honesty of each stroke melt snow and ice just as the Tuscan rays of the sun would do. Anna Akhmatova was melting next to Modigliani - and, by the way, only one of the 16 drawings given to her by the artist has survived in our country. Pablo Picasso - a powerful talent and no less powerful businessman - bought one of the girls from Modigliani and, they say, pronounced his name before his death. Find yourself in Helsinki - look, she's there. At the same time, discover Modigliani the sculptor.

What exhibition can not be missed now in Helsinki

The Ateneum is a classic museum with great opportunities for exhibitions of any kind, right in front of the train station. The chances of tourists and locals hurrying on business are approximately equal. The Modigliani exhibition became the main event of the North in 2016, whoever doubted anything all these two years - the first negotiations were held by the Finns back in 2014. And, I am sure, they fell into despair more than once, feeling like market organ-grinders asking for change.

Football fans (those who consider themselves cultural) who were going to France in the summer for the European Championship could also learn about the exhibition, which came to Helsinki in transit through Budapest. Interestingly, many guests from "cities with heritage" would go to Modigliani, know that he is the most richly represented in the museum contemporary art in Lille, more precisely, in the suburbs of Villeneuve d'Ascq - a six-minute drive from the Pierre Maurois stadium, where the Russian team lost to Slovakia in a nervous and unpleasant atmosphere?!

If you missed it then, catch up now. Moreover, the portraits of Modigliani have always been closer to us than one can imagine. The only "regular" unit of the Ateneum is the image of Leopold Survage, one of the artist's friends. Survage's parents are from Moscow. military service carried in Lappeenranta. Portrait of Modigliani painted in Nice. And in 1955, Survage handed over the work to Finland, and left a letter with all its history. In order for the exhibition in the Ateneum to acquire a mystical halo, we add that this letter was discovered during its preparation, in 2016...

Art - The best way conquer one-sided perception of the surrounding reality. The exhibition of Amedeo Modigliani in the small northern capital is an illogical decision brought to a victorious end. And if you wander around the Ateneum and ask, like many, the question - why do Modigliani's heroes have different eyes, ask the artist himself how Leopold Survage did it. “Because one eye looks at the world, and the other looks inside you,” Amedeo Modigliani, who managed to negotiate with the impenetrable North, will answer you.

P.S. Tip - the best cafes and restaurants in Helsinki participate in the exhibition. Explore the menu on the streets, you will find a special offer of lunches and dinners with an entrance ticket to the Ateneum included. A good chance to get into the really best places !

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