Auguste Rodin, who is a sculptor and artist, will be synonymously known with his famous sculpture ‘The Thinker’, which is a pensive sculpture that is tormented by his thoughts. It is only one among the many sculptures that pushed forward his impressive career. Here are around ten facts to know about Auguste Rodin as an artist and a sculptor, before getting to know about the Musée Rodin, which is a beautiful museum dedicated to the artist’s works.
Auguste Rodin as a Master in Sculptures Had a Pretty Bad Eyesight
Auguste Rodin is widely known for his bad long-distance sight that made his education a great struggle for him. For the best reasons, he fell in love with paintings, drawings and other artistic activities rather than dwelling into chemistry or mathematics forever. Rodin’s near slightness was positive while he pursued art in his life.
Rodin Tried Out Different Things before Becoming an Artist
Rodin went through a lot of struggle to find formal training, and for the same reason, it took some time for him to commit to his art interest full time. Rodin was rejected three times by the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. His work life began when he started to work as a commercial sculptor. He then had a change of mind and joined the Catholic order when his sister passed away. But a few fellow priests from there encouraged and asked him to take forward his art. Rodin was then drafted into the army while the Franco-Prussian war was happening, but he couldn’t stay for long because of his poor eyesight.
Rodin Married Rose Beuret Only a Year before Their Deaths
Rodin met Rose Beuret, who was a seamstress, at the beginning of his career as she began modeling for him. Even though they wounded up having a child, he married another woman without recognizing the child. However, he settled down with Rose three weeks before she died, and they both are buried next to each other’s grave.
The Most Iconic Piece of His Work Called the Thinker Was Part of a Larger Structure
Rodin was slowly granted an impressive commission to work for a brand new museum of France – The French Ministry of Fine Arts, as he started to get more recognized in the country. While collaborating with the museum, he designed a detailed entrance called “The Gate of Hells” of which “The Thinker” was supposed to be its centerpiece. But the museum and the rest of the gate were never built.
Auguste Rodin Fell in Love with One of His Fellow Sculptors – Camille Claudel
Even though Rose Beuret would always remain to be the love of his life, the artist was briefly engaged in a romantic relationship with a nineteen-year-old girl, Camille Claudel, who was one of his students in his sculpture class. She was a great sculptor and they influenced each other a lot with their work. She was the original model for his sculpture named “The Kiss.”
Rodin Moved into a Hotel That is Renowned for its Creative Guests
Auguste Rodin moved into Hotel named Biron and converted part of the ground floor of the hotel into his studio for him to work there during the early 1900s. Biron mostly attracted artistically rich clients and this has helped Jean Cocteau, Henri Matisse, and dancer Isadora Duncan in becoming his neighbors. At the point where Hotel Biron was to be struck down, Rodin promised his estate to the Government and saved the building. The building was then converted into Rodin Museum in his honor after his death.
One of His Modernist Experiments “Honore De Balzac” Was Greatly Controversial
Auguste Rodin was commissioned to create busts of many people who are well-known like star rose. But his sculpture called “Honore de Balzac” for the Society of Men of Letters was very controversial, for which Rodin worked for several years by casting around fifty versions of it, before presenting the modernist version of the sculpture to the society. They were enraged and it resulted in his shaming by his contemporaries. Rodin got very humiliated that he paid for the statue to the society and moved into his town of birth. But now, it is been celebrated as a masterpiece.
One among the Replicas of ‘The Thinker” Was Destroyed in a Terrorist Attack
The statue at The Cleveland Museum of Art was targeted by a group of terrorists during the 1970s that made them strap dynamite to the statute. Even though it didn’t destroy the entire statue, several damages were made to the portions like its leg and feet. The feet of the statue was destroyed, and the terrorists were never caught.