Amedeo Modigliani was born in Livorno, Italy, and had formal art training in Florence, followed by a year in Venice. The serious illnesses he suffered during his childhood persisted throughout his life. In the winter of 1906 he moved to Paris and turned to sculpture, carving totem-like figures in stone. Modigliani returned to painting in 1915, specializing in portraits of his lovers and friends. These are delicate in execution, the forms and color simple, and typically the sitter is sad or non-expressive. A series of large nudes are particularly erotic and typically the figure is outlined describing an elongated torso sensuously modeled with gradations of flesh tones. His early work was influenced by Paul Cezanne, Paul Gauguin and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. The fourteen years he spent in Paris were productive, but Modigliani died at the age of 36 from tuberculosis and the ravages of an excessive lifestyle.