[5] Wanting to pursue a career in the arts, and with a talent for drawing, she chose to study at the Académie Colarossi, where in the spring of 1917 Hébuterne was introduced to Amedeo Modigliani by the sculptor Chana Orloff, who came with many other artists to take advantage of the academy's live models.

[6] Described by the writer Charles-Albert Cingria [fr] (1883–1954) as gentle, shy, quiet, and delicate, Jeanne Hébuterne became a principal subject for Modigliani's art.

In the spring of 1918, the couple moved to the warmer climate of Nice on the French Riviera where Modigliani's agent hoped he might raise his profile by selling some of his works to the wealthy art connoisseurs who wintered there.

By this time, Modigliani was suffering from tuberculous meningitis and his health, made worse by complications brought on by substance abuse, was deteriorating badly.

Hébuterne's family brought her to their home, but she threw herself out of the fifth-floor apartment window two days after Modigliani's death,[9] killing herself and her unborn child, a son.