Amedeo Modigliani was an Italian painter and sculptor, known as “Dedo” among friends in his hometown of Livorno, Italy. He was often remembered as impeccably dressed, carrying himself with deliberate elegance, frequently wearing a scarf as part of his signature style.
After moving to Paris in 1906, Modigliani initially found community among other penniless, stateless Jewish artists living on the margins of the city. As he became more established in Paris, his circle widened into the bohemian worlds of Montmartre and Montparnasse, where he became known as “Modi”—a nickname that played on the French word maudit, meaning “cursed,” reflecting both his intensity and his self-destructive behavior.
Modigliani Mondays
Photo by Eliana Simoni Livorno, Italia. August 2024. #modiglianimondays #methodactor #modigliani #livorno #italia
Five years ago, I ran 42.42 miles, in honor of Gregory Gallup, Army veteran, West Point graduate, and my brother in arms.
Greg shaped me more than anyone I served beside. He saw the leader in me more than I even saw in myself. He showed me what leadership is about: serving the people who can’t stand up for themselves. We met at Standing Rock, with Native Americans protecting their water. Greg heard I was about to do a radio interview on Standing Rock; he called in and set it straight, giving me the latest messages and talking points before I went live. After that call, Greg stayed in my life as a brother and mentor, pushing me to rise to the occasion; to lead with purpose, not rank.
Greg traveled the world, building clean-water systems in Kenya, Afghanistan, and South America, forming relationships with community leaders and sharing his relationship with Jesus Christ. He believed in service as a universal language.
In our last calls, while I was still on active duty, Greg started calling me Sir. I told him, just call me Drew. He insisted, I’m a Sir now. I didn’t realize then that he was fading. I promised I’d call him after my birthday, September 17th, to plan our next activation. Greg was struggling in ways I couldn’t see. Unfortunately, on that same day, Greg took his own life.
That loss broke something open in me. I ran 42.42 miles, a mile for each year, month, and week he was alive. It was my way to carry his message and to raise awareness for veteran suicide. Greg’s life still keeps me in the fire, to live life without fear and to never quit.
Now more than ever, it is time to focus on our commonality as people, not what divides us. We all share the same needs and desires: to be loved and to be known.
Happy Veterans Day, Greg. Thank you for showing me how to lead with love. #veteransday #ultamarathon #service #neverquit #runner
Started at the bottom, and now my photo is on page 6 in Vogue Scandinavia! Never stop believing in yourself. No dream is too big. Big thanks to HONGQI for trusting me to shoot this photo, Daniel @thedaniewang for bringing the assignment, and my lighting tech Christopher Mortenson @mortyvision #vogue #fashion #dreams
A girl who gets turned into a swan, she just needs love to break the spell’ | Pam Dutant. Hollywood, CA. April 2026. Photo by Drew Bly. #blackswan #love #fadeintoyou
“The only difference between me and a madman is that I am not mad,” Salvador Dalí
Born in Figueres, Spain, on May 11, 1904, Dalí was an eccentric child who showed artistic talent early, taking formal art classes by the age of ten. Throughout his childhood, he was told he was the reincarnation of his older brother, also named Salvador, who died before he was born.
Dalí trained in Madrid and Catalunya until his expulsion in 1926. He later relocated to Paris, joining the Surrealist group in 1929. Known for dream-like imagery inspired by Freud’s psychoanalysis, Dalí rejected conventional realism in favor of the subconscious and symbolic form.
Dalí emerged during a period in which artists like Amedeo Modigliani had already broken from academic tradition through psychological portraiture and distortion of form decades earlier.
Modigliani Mondays
Happy Birthday, Salvador Dalí.
Photo by Drew Bly. Los Angeles. March 2021.
#ModiglianiMondays #SalvadorDalí #surrealist #subconscious #modigliani
“When you believe in things that you don’t understand…” Stevie Wonder | Cocoa Sarai, Sophia Perez King, and Stacy Barthe, West Hollywood. May 2026. Photo by Drew Bly.
I have some photos, I recall every detail, how I was feeling, direction of the wind, my last meal, my thoughts, and things that were said. I treasure these moments dearly. 🪶 Standing Rock, North Dakota. 2016. #mniwiconi #standingrock #seeyouindakota
“From Venice, I have received life’s most precious teachings,” Modigliani, is quoted from a letter he wrote to Oscar Ghiglia, a mentor and close friend in Florence.
In 1903, Amedeo Modigliani arrived in Venice, studying in the footsteps of Italian Renaissance masters like Vittore Carpaccio and Giovanni Bellini while working from the nude at the “scuola libera del nudo” to study at the Royal Institute of Fine Arts.
During this time, he adopted a bohemian lifestyle and engaged with contemporaries such as Umberto Boccioni and Fabio Mauroner, with whom he shared a studio in the Dorsoduro district.
Modigliani Mondays
Photo by Drew Bly
Venice, California. March 2021.
#ModiglianiMondays #Venice #AmedeoModigliani #35mm #Italy
Return to Dharma 🌕 Full Moon Concert. Radhika Vekaria, Lynda Arnold, with Siddh Chitnis, and Juliet Lyons. May 1, 2026, at the Pico Union Project.
Photo by Drew Bly
#returntodharma #fullmoon #flowermoon
