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Persona

Eugenia Garsin

A strong, intellectual and artistic woman.

Eugenie Garsin, Amedeo Modigliani’s mother, is a key piece to understanding the environment in which the young painter grew up. 

Eugenie, who married Flaminio Modigliani when she was very young, just 15 years old - an arranged marriage as was usual for families who saw it as an advantageous contract, had a strong and determined temperament that she matured throughout her life, making her the beating heart of the entire family, also in an economic sense. She was also extremely intellectual. 

Eugenie grew up in Marseilles, in the Garsin family-owned building, and here she learned languages and developed her inclination for a cosmopolitan culture attitude that she passed on to her son.

The Garsins were a family of Sephardic Jews, for whom culture was a central value. They were well-educated and cosmopolitan. Like her father Isaac, Eugenie was proud of this baggage, maintaining that they descended directly from Spinoza.  Although businessmen, the Garsins considered culture to be their real wealth. 

In 1884, in Livorno, Eugenie already had 3 sons with her husband Flaminio: Giuseppe Emanuele, Margherita and Umberto. Eugenie was pregnant with her fourth child, Amedeo, when the economic collapse affected the Modiglianis, due to the sudden drop in the financial markets for the mining activities they were involved with and which led them to declare themselves bankrupt, and to the burdensome “marriage contracts” signed by the family. Eugenie lost everything, and only her famous escape thanks to her giving birth allowed the family to salvage something. Amedeo was therefore born in a moment of desperation for the family.

It was, however, at this time, that Eugenie extraordinary character emerged, to the detriment of people who were not as strong as her husband. Eugenie opened a language school with her sister Laura, and it was the resources from this activity that allowed the family to return to business. 

Thanks to her bravery and spirit of initiative, therefore, the family dedicated itself to selling “citrons and orange peel”, thus regaining their social status and economic power that they had prior to the collapse, but this time it was Eugenie who was directly involved in the family business, together with her brother-in-law Alberto.   

Eugenie was not just a businesswoman: she was many other thing too. She was an intellectual appreciated in society she wrote books that were published under other people’s names in the United States and she translated D’Annunzio's poems into French. She had a special connection with her youngest child, Amedeo, who was similar to her in many ways; it was Eugenie who personally educated him, and when his delicate health meant that he could not continue with his high school studies, it was Eugenie who allowed him to start his apprenticeship as a painter, guiding him and encouraging him towards this art.

(Source: "Modigliani" by Meryle Secrest)

Esplora l'itinerario

  • The young Modigliani
    Arte
  • The house where he was born
    Museo
    • Eugenia Garsin
      Persona
    • Isacco Garsin
      Persona
  • Via della Madonna and multicultural Livorno
    Tappa
    • The Church of the Madonna
      Chiesa
    • The "Nations" of Livorno
      Tappa
  • The Bar Mitzvah, the Livorno Synagogue and the Jewish Community
    Tappa
    • What to visit today: the new Synagogue
      Chiesa
  • The Modigliani business: documents in the Chamber of Commerce’s historical archive.
    Tappa
    • The Modigliani family in politics: his brother Giuseppe Emanuele
      Persona
    • The trading of peel
      Opera
  • Giovanni Fattori Civic Museum in Livorno
    Museo
    • Modigliani’s "stradina toscana"
      Opera
    • Guglielmo Micheli: Modigliani’s Maestro
      Opera
    • The port of Livorno
      Opera
  • Cafe’ Bardi
    Tappa
    • The portrait of Aristide
      Opera
    • Central Market Atelier Modigliani
      Tappa
    • Fosso reale - Piazza della Repubblica
      Tappa
  • City Museum (Modigliani Exhibition) - Piazza del Luogo Pio
    Mostra