Modigliani at the Phillips Collection

WASHINGTON, D.C.

:Like a number of other brilliant artists who led brief but spectacular lives, the drama of Amadeo Modigliani's legendary career as a bohemian painter has tended to overshadow his achievements. Famous primarily for his elegantly stylized nudes and elongated portraits, Modigliani (1884-1920) differed from his avant-garde artistic contemporaries. He stayed away from his era's numerous art movements, developing instead a visual language that was uniquely his own.

His reckless lifestyle in Paris and death in poverty at the age of 35 made him a romanticized stereotype of the wild, starving artist in that pre-World War I era. Now, decades after his death, scholars and curators are working to separate fact from myth and to illuminate the messages in his life and work.

"Modigliani: Beyond the Myth," the most comprehensive exhibition of his oeuvre in more than a half century, provides an opportunity to reexamine his career and art, and offers fresh insights into his art's meaning and sources. Organized by The Jewish Museum (where a somewhat different version was seen last year) and made possible by the Jerome L. Greene Foundation, the show is on view at The Phillips Collection through May 29.