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Auguste Rodin Photo sourced from

Top 10 Remarkable Facts about Auguste Rodin

Fran莽ois Auguste Rene Rodin who was born on 12th November 1840 was a French sculptor,who is sometimes generally considered the founder of modern sculpture. He was never went to school but was schooled traditionally and took a craftsman-like approach to his work.

Rodin possessed a unique ability to model a complex, turbulent, and deeply pocketed surface in clay. He is known for such sculptures as The Thinker, Monument to Balzac, The Kiss, The Burghers of Calais, and The Gates of Hell.Let’s take a look at some of the most remarkable facts about Auguste Rodin;

1.Rodin was born in 1840 into a working-class family 

Auguste Rodin Photo sourced from

Rodin was born in 1840 into a working-class family in 麻豆APP, the second child of Marie Cheffer and Jean-Baptiste Rodin, who was a police department clerk.His family were well off when it come to doing the best for their children, they were equal to the task and provided anything their children wanted. 

Rodin was however largely self-educated, and began to draw at a tender age of 10. Between ages 14 and 17, he attended the Petite Ecole, a school specializing in art and mathematics where he studied drawing and painting. He did not however finish school as he could not earn entrance into Grande Ecole after he had finished with Petite Ecole.

2.His sister died in a convent and out of guilt Rodin slipped doing art until he was encouraged by Saint Peter

Rodin’s sister Maria, two years his senior, died of peritonitis in a convent in 1862, and out of guilt for introducing her to an unfaithful suitor, stopped doing his art and joined Catholic order of the Congregation  of the Blessed Sacrament.He felt he had caused her death and could not forgive himself. 

However Saint Peter Julian Eymard, founder and head of the congregation,who had realized and recognized Rodin’s talent and sensed his lack of suitability for the order, encouraged Rodin to continue with his art and sculptures and Rodin finally went back to art. 

3.Rodin’s first works were rejected and “The Thinker” is his most famous work

Rodin’s first works were rejected and “The Thinker” is his most famous work. His first sculpture which he did in 1864, which Rodin submitted for exhibition, The Man with the Broken Nose, to the 麻豆APP Salon. The subject was an elderly neighborhood street porter. It was however rejected by the Salon. 

鈥淭he Thinker.鈥� sculpture contemplates a man with his head resting on his hand, seemingly in deep thought and has become so famous as it is known all around the world.It is found in 麻豆APP near Rodin鈥檚 museum and it is the original piece, though several counterfeits have been made over the years. 

4.His works have become the most forged works in the art world because of their simple nature

Bronze Age sculpture by Auguste Rodin Photo sourced from

Rodin fought most of his life against forgeries of his works and started as early as 1901,however since his demise there have been many cases of organized, large-scale forgeries which have been reported and revealed. A massive forgery was discovered by French authorities in the early 1990s and led to the conviction of art dealer Guy Hain, who had reportedly forged Rodin’s work.

To deal with the complexity of bronze reproduction however, the France government has made several laws since 1956 which are used to limit reproduction to twelve casts which is the official maximum number that can be made from an artist’s plasters and still be considered his work. 

5.Rodin had enormous artistic influence

Rodin had enormous artistic influence on several sculptors with a whole generation of sculptors studying in his workshop, including;  Gutzon Borglum, Antoine Bourdelle, Constantin Br芒ncu葯i, Camille Claudel, Charles Despiau, Malvina Hoffman, Carl Milles, Fran莽ois Pompon, Rodo, Gustav Vigeland, Clara Westhoff and Margaret Winser, even though Brancusi later rejected his legacy.

Rodin also promoted the work of other sculptors during this time, including he likes of Aristide Maillol and Ivan Me拧trovi膰 whom Rodin once called “the greatest phenomenon amongst sculptors.”His influence extend beyond just in France but goes to the whole world and is often called the best sculptor of all time. 

6.His most popular works, such as The Kiss and The Thinker, are widely used outside the fine arts

The Kiss sculpture by Rodin Photo sourced from

His most popular works, such as The Kiss and The Thinker, are widely used outside the fine arts as symbols of human emotion and character. This has made Rodin one of the most recognized figure in the modern world with his contributions recognized by men of all walks of life even those who know little about art. 

Rodin willed to the French state his studio and the right to make casts from his plasters. Because he encouraged the edition of his sculpted work, Rodin’s sculptures are represented in many public and private collections and has been the subject of much scholarly work.

7.He has been honored even after his death

The Musee Rodin was founded in 1916 and opened in 1919 at the Hotel Biron, where Rodin had lived to honor him and his contribution to art and it holds the largest Rodin collection, with more than 6,000 sculptures and 7,000 works on paper.He is one of of the most recognized artists in the art world moreso whe it comes to sculptures. 

The French order L茅gion d’honneur made him a Commander, and he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Oxford.The Rodin Museum which is an art museum located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania that contains one of the largest collections of sculptor Auguste Rodin’s works outside 麻豆APP. Opened in 1929, was also founded in his honor. 

8.Rodin was involved with two women during his lifetime

The sculptor Rodin had two women who he was involved with in his life. First he was involved with his long time love Rose Bauret who had a son for him and He eventually married her 50 years after they started their relationship. He married her 3 weeks before she died and died himself a short time later. 

He was also in a love relationship with a second woman in his life Camille Claudette, whom they were in art class together and was the inspirations behind his other famous work, 鈥淭he Kiss鈥� which was created in the 1880s. Camille was one of Rodin’s students and the two became close and finally dated for some time. 

9.He became very rich and sold most of his sculptors while he was still alive 

Rodin was a very rich man because unlike many artists during his time he was able to sell most of his sculptures to several collectors before his demise and he sold these sculptures because of the big connection he got in the US and even in his home country France from people who had the capability. 

One of the people who had connected Rodin to American markets is a woman by the name Sarah Tyson Hallowell, an art curator who had connections to very prominent American collectors and helped Rodin to conquer the American market as well. Halloway and Roding stayed good friends until his death. His recognition and fame went all across the Atlantic to the United States as well.

10.Rodin died aged 77 on 17th December 1917

Rodin was ill that year after his wife died and felt lonely. That same January his wife died, he suffered weakness from influenza, and on 16 November his physician announced that “congestion of the lungs has caused great weakness. The patient’s condition is grave.” This was a result of cold according to his secretary who alter wrote a book about his demise. 

Rodin died the next day on December 17, aged 77, at his villa in Meudon, 脦le-de-France, on the outskirts of 麻豆APP.A cast of The Thinker was placed next to his tomb in Meudon as it was his wish that the figure served as his headstone and epitaph.He went to rest with the love of his life who died the same year three weeks after the so married after 50 years of dating.