Auguste Rodin

François Auguste René Rodin is widely regarded as the sculptor who launched modern sculpture. His work, including pieces like *The Thinker*, *Monument to Balzac*, *The Kiss*, *The Burghers of Calais*, and *The Gates of Hell*, shows a remarkable talent for shaping clay into complex, turbulent forms with deep pockets of shadow. Trained in traditional methods, he approached his craft like a skilled artisan. Many of his most famous sculptures sparked controversy because they broke from the decorative, formulaic, or heavily thematic norms of figurative sculpture at the time. Instead of relying on mythology or allegory, Rodin turned to naturalism, celebrating the individual character and physical presence of the human body. Though aware of the criticism, he never altered his style, and his steady output eventually won over both the government and the art world.

Rodin’s reputation grew from the unexpected naturalism of his first major figure—inspired by a trip to Italy in 1875—to the unconventional memorials he later sought to create. By 1900, he was famous worldwide. After his exhibit at the World’s Fair, wealthy private collectors sought his work, and he moved among prominent intellectuals and artists. His student Camille Claudel became his associate, lover, and creative rival. Other students included Antoine Bourdelle, Constantin Brâncuși, and Charles Despiau. He married his lifelong companion, Rose Beuret, in the final year of both their lives. After his death in 1917, his sculptures lost popularity for a time, but within a few decades his legacy was secure. Today, he remains one of the few sculptors widely recognized outside the art world.

Rodin was born on 12 November 1840 in Paris to a working-class family. His father, Jean-Baptiste Rodin, worked as a police department clerk; his mother was Marie Cheffer. He was largely self-taught and began drawing at age ten. From ages 14 to 17, he attended the Petite École, a school focused on art and mathematics, where he studied drawing and painting. His drawing teacher, Horace Lecoq de Boisbaudran, emphasized developing each student’s personality so they observed with their own eyes and drew from memory. Rodin later expressed gratitude for this approach. At Lecoq’s studio, he met Jules Dalou and Alphonse Legros.

In 1857, Rodin tried to enter the École des Beaux-Arts by submitting a clay model of a companion, but he was rejected. Two more attempts also failed. Since entrance requirements at the Grande École were not especially high, these rejections were serious blows. The judges may have favored Neoclassical tastes, while Rodin had been trained in the lighter, 18th-century style of sculpture. He left the Petite École in 1857 and spent most of the next two decades working as a craftsman and ornamenter, producing decorative objects and architectural details to earn a living.

Rodin’s older sister Maria died of peritonitis in a convent in 1862. He felt guilty because he had introduced her to an unfaithful suitor. Overcome, he abandoned art and joined the Catholic order of the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament as a lay brother. Father Peter Julian Eymard, the founder and head of the congregation, recognized Rodin’s talent and sensed he was unsuited for religious life. He encouraged Rodin to return to sculpture, offering the order’s garden shed as a studio. In 1863, before leaving the order, Rodin produced his first clearly datable work: a bust of Eymard, created in thanks for the priest’s support. Eymard, aware of anticlerical sentiment, thought the bust’s coiffed hair and widow’s peak suggested “the horns of the devil” and asked Rodin to change it. Rodin refused, and the order hid its copy. Today, the congregation holds a more positive view and displays casts in order houses worldwide. That same year, Rodin returned to work as a decorator and took classes with animal sculptor Antoine-Louis Barye, whose attention to detail and finely rendered musculature of animals in motion deeply influenced him.

In 1864, Rodin began living with a young seamstress named Rose Beuret, born in June 1844. They stayed together for the rest of his life, though with varying commitment. The couple had a son, Auguste-Eugène Beuret (1866–1934). That year, Rodin exhibited his first sculpture and entered the studio of Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse, a successful mass producer of objets d’art. Rodin worked as Carrier-Belleuse’s chief assistant until 1870, designing roof decorations and staircase and doorway embellishments. When the Franco-Prussian War broke out, Rodin served briefly in the French National Guard but was discharged due to near-sightedness. The war reduced work for decorators, and Rodin struggled with poverty until about age 30. Carrier-Belleuse soon asked him to join him in Belgium, where they worked on ornamentation for the Bourse Palace in Brussels in 1871.

Rodin planned to stay in Belgium for only a few months but ended up living outside France for the next six years. This period was pivotal. He had gained skill and experience as a craftsman, but no one had seen his art, which remained in his workshop because he could not afford castings. His relationship with Carrier-Belleuse soured, but he found other work in Brussels and displayed some pieces there.