The short and intense life of Jeanne Hébuterne

This young woman with strikingly beautiful eyes has never left my mind. Her portraits, created by an obsessed artist, are extremely impressive. The painter who portrayed her so vividly was the famous Amedeo Modigliani. He was very fond of Jeanne, the paintress, who was 14 years younger than him.

Jeanne Hébuterne came from a rather bourgeois family; her father was an accountant. Like her older brother André, who became an established painter, she was talented and encouraged by her parents, who allowed her to study painting privately. A photograph taken around 1914 shows an attractive young woman with a confident, penetrating gaze. Jeanne was described as rather quiet, as calm. The picture suggests that there was a strong will beneath the surface.

The beautiful young woman with the cat's eyes met the painter Modigliani in 1917, and it seems that she gave up her life for him – it was as if they both lived his life from then on. Modigliani, who was extremely excessive, might not have been able to cope with what he was taking on alone. The painter was not in good health, but he put a lot of strain on his body. He drank and took drugs, ate irregularly and was often ill. Jeanne had met a gifted artist who absorbed her in some way. She was exceptionally talented, but at some point she stopped painting. She lived her art only for his sake.

The young woman's family did not like this relationship. Modigliani was the epitome of the poor bohemian, economically unsuccessful and starving. Moreover, his excesses were well known. But Jeanne Hébuterne could not and would not leave him; he had entered her life and taken it over, so to speak. She was indispensable to him, his model and his muse – and, according to some friends, he often took out his fear of dependence on her.

In 1918, Jeanne gave birth to a daughter whose paternity Modigliani acknowledged. Jeanne's parents kept their distance, finding it difficult to accept their daughter's behaviour and her unmarried motherhood, although the painter put his intention to marry the mother of his child in writing. He became engaged to Jeanne when she was pregnant with their second child. The marriage was never consummated, however, as Modigliani contracted tuberculosis. Weakened by many excesses and an unstable life, his body had little resistance to the disease and he died soon after.

Two days later, Jeanne threw herself from a fifth-floor window, taking her unborn child with her. She had become incapable of living for herself and her children. She could no longer imagine living alone, without Modigliani.

It is difficult to believe that her suicide was caused by fear of the uncertain life she would have with her children after the death of her beloved. She simply refused to go on with her life, putting the dead man before her children and herself, as she had always done during the relatively short time of their relationship. A talented and beautiful young painter, strong enough at the time to imagine an existence other than the bourgeois one, met a genius, and the artist was left behind. She disappeared.

What if they had never met? When you see the beautiful, cat-eyed woman who only lived to be 22, you can't help but think that over and over again.

© 'The short and intense life of Jeanne Hébuterne. A young woman with strikingly beautiful eyes': An article by Pressenet (translation by Izabel Comati), 04/2025. The image shows Jeanne Hébuterne, a 1918 painting by Amedeo Modigliani, licence: public domain.