1. Humble Beginnings and Early Struggles
François-Auguste-René Rodin was born on November 12, 1840, in the working-class neighborhood of Mouffetard in Paris. His father, Jean-Baptiste Rodin, was a low-ranking civil servant in the Parisian police, and his mother, Marie Cheffer, a homemaker. Rodin grew up in modest surroundings and was considered a quiet, shy child with poor eyesight and limited academic aptitude. However, he demonstrated a precocious talent for drawing and modeling.
At the age of 14, Rodin enrolled at the Petite École, a school that trained craftsmen in decorative arts. There he received solid training in design, drawing, and modeling. Despite his talent, Rodin was repeatedly rejected from the prestigious École des Beaux-Arts, which favored more academic and idealized approaches to art. These rejections profoundly affected Rodin’s self-confidence but also pushed him to develop his own unique style.
For nearly two decades, Rodin worked in obscurity. He supported himself as a decorative sculptor, contributing to architectural embellishments, funeral monuments, and ornamental figures. In 1870, following the Franco-Prussian War and a short stay in Belgium, Rodin began to conceive more ambitious artistic projects, aiming to elevate sculpture from ornamental craft to expressive art.
2. The Breakthrough: “The Age of Bronze” and the Shock of Realism
Rodin’s first major work, "The Age of Bronze" (L’Âge d’airain, 1876), would become a pivotal turning point in his career. It was a life-size male nude, meticulously modeled with such anatomical precision that critics accused him of cheating — alleging he had made a direct cast from a live model. Rodin had, in fact, worked entirely by hand, but the controversy ironically worked in his favor. It drew public attention and established Rodin’s reputation as a sculptor of remarkable realism.
Unlike many academic sculptors, Rodin did not idealize the human form. Instead, he sought to capture its truth — the tension of muscles, the asymmetry of movement, the complexity of emotion. His work shocked many contemporaries but resonated deeply with others, including writers, poets, and emerging avant-garde artists.
3. “The Gates of Hell” and the Birth of Modern Expression
In 1880, Rodin was commissioned by the French government to design a monumental doorway for a planned Museum of Decorative Arts. The project, ultimately never completed, became Rodin’s lifelong obsession: "The Gates of Hell." Inspired by Dante Alighieri’s Inferno and Charles Baudelaire’s Les Fleurs du mal, the composition contains more than 200 figures writhing in torment, ecstasy, and despair.
From this masterpiece sprang some of the most famous Auguste Rodin sculptures:
"The Thinker" – Originally placed above the gates as a representation of Dante, it became a universal symbol of introspection.
"The Kiss" – A sensual depiction of forbidden love, based on Dante’s story of Paolo and Francesca.
"The Three Shades" – A trio of nearly identical figures pointing to the inscription “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.”
"Ugolino and His Sons" – A harrowing portrayal of suffering and madness.
Though Rodin never completed The Gates of Hell, it became the foundation of his mythos — a swirling vortex of emotion, mythology, and fragmented beauty.
4. Rodin and Camille Claudel: Passion, Collaboration, Tragedy
In the 1880s, Rodin met Camille Claudel, a gifted young sculptor who became his pupil, muse, collaborator, and lover. Their intense and passionate relationship was artistically fruitful but personally tumultuous. Claudel’s influence is visible in Rodin’s increased attention to psychological nuance and sensitivity.
While Claudel developed her own brilliant body of work, she struggled to emerge from Rodin’s shadow. After their relationship ended, she spiraled into paranoia and was eventually institutionalized for the last 30 years of her life. Rodin never publicly defended her, a fact that continues to trouble biographers and historians.
5. Fame, Wealth, and Controversy
By the late 1880s and 1890s, Rodin had become a celebrated artist both in France and abroad. He received commissions from governments, collectors, and public institutions across Europe and the Americas. Despite this, he often faced criticism from conservative circles, especially for his sensual depictions of the human body.
His studio in Paris became a hub of artistic exchange, and he mentored many younger artists. Rodin was also an avid collector of art, antiquities, and Asian objects. He corresponded with Rainer Maria Rilke, collaborated with Claude Monet, and befriended figures like Victor Hugo and Gustav Mahler.
Rodin never stopped experimenting. In his later years, he created increasingly abstract and fragmented forms, anticipating modernist trends. He often left his works unfinished — a deliberate artistic choice that emphasized emotional intensity over polish.
6. The Rodin Museum: A Monument to His Genius
In 1908, Rodin moved into the Hôtel Biron, an 18th-century mansion in Paris. In 1916, one year before his death, he donated all of his works, including original plasters, bronze casts, drawings, and personal collections, to the French state. His only condition was that the Rodin Museum (Musée Rodin) be established in the Hôtel Biron.
Rodin died on November 17, 1917, at the age of 77. The Rodin Museum opened in 1919 and remains one of the most beloved and visited museums in Paris. Its beautifully landscaped gardens are adorned with some of the most iconic Auguste Rodin sculptures, including The Thinker, The Burghers of Calais, and Balzac. A second site in Meudon, Rodin’s country estate, offers visitors insight into his private life and final resting place.
7. Legacy and Influence
Rodin’s influence on modern sculpture cannot be overstated. He challenged the boundaries between form and emotion, between finished and unfinished, between classical ideals and modern truth. His work paved the way for artists like Brâncuși, Giacometti, Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth, and Isamu Noguchi.
But more than technique or style, Rodin’s true legacy lies in his courage to be honest — to portray the human body not as an ideal, but as a vessel of pain, joy, doubt, and love.
Today, Auguste Rodin sculptures are held in prestigious museums worldwide, from the Musée d'Orsay to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Yet nowhere can his genius be felt more intimately than within the walls and gardens of the Rodin Museum, where his life, his love, and his vision endure — carved forever in bronze and stone.