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Whether they are the inspiration for love poems or the models for wonderful paintings or sculptures, the fate of muses is rarely enviable. Among them, Camille Claudel probably has one of the saddest stories: Auguste Rodin‘s love, muse and co-creator spent the last thirty years of her life in a mental institution.
At the end of the 19th century, it was not considered common for a woman to work in art. This was no different Camille Claudel nor in his case: when he started sculpting at the age of 12, in 1876, his mother (who was initially disappointed that she did not have a son) he did not support Camille’s “unladylike desire to be an artist”. Her father proved to be more advanced: he asked their neighbor, the sculptor Alfred Boucher, to take a look at his daughter’s clay human figures. Boucher encouraged the family to teach Camille, who then together with his mother and siblings, he moved to the center of artistic life, the Montparnasse district of Paris.
in Rodin’s studio
Camille studied at the Académie Colarossi, one of the few art schools that opened its doors to female students. Boucher helped him in everything, and when he moved to Florence, he handed over the baton Auguste Rodin– and Camille’s fate was inextricably intertwined with that of her mentor from then on. At the time they met, Camille was 19 and the sculptor was 42.
Camille Claudel (left) in a studio in the 1880sWikimedia Commons
Camille Claudel He started working in Rodin’s studio in 1883. They experimented with new materials (plaster, marble, onyx), their working relationship deepened, and then they became lovers. However, Rodin had no intention of leaving his life partner, Rose Beuret, with whom he had lived for twenty years. (Rose, a seamstress and laundress, didn’t have an easy life with him either: Rodin never acknowledged that he was the father of their son, and in addition, he constantly engaged in on-and-off relationships.) While Camille was Rodin’s lover, in collaboration with the influential sculptor she could implement her own ideas – even if it pained her to see that the man always got the credit for them. She also became financially dependent on Rodin, as the relationship between Camille and her family deteriorated due to an extramarital affair (well, a sculpting career not worthy of ladies).
Camille Claudel’s most famous sculpture – and the reaction
Things really turned bad after 1892: then because of her unwanted pregnancy, Camille had an abortion and then broke up with Rodinwho soon took comfort in another student model, Gwen John. They remained more or less on speaking terms until 1899, when Camille Claudel produced one of his most famous works, The mature age bronze statue. Seeing the sculpture of three nude allegorical figures (a man, an older woman representing aging and death, and a young woman) Auguste Rodin roused to unseemly anger—perhaps because he interpreted the work as an allegory of their own relationship:
the man, who is in vain tempted by the young female figure, returns to the older woman.
Paul Claudelaccording to Camille’s younger brother, he was not far from the truth: “My sister on his knees, humiliated, he begsthis great, proud creature; and what was torn out of him, before his eyes, is his own soul”.
Portrait of Auguste Rodin (1893)Bettmann / Getty Images Hungary
Camille soon after he found himself in no man’s land. Using all his influence, Rodin persuaded the Ministry of Fine Arts to withdraw the commission given to Camille. After the sculptor broke up with Rodin He became close to Debussyalthough it is not known how mutual this attraction was: according to some, the composer pursued Camille, according to others, he was fond of her: until his death, he kept one of Claudel’s most beautiful, Waltz his statue.
His family committed him to a mental institution
From 1905, Camille began to show symptoms of a serious mental disorder. He destroyed his sculptures and accused Rodin of stealing his ideas because of him. Diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, he wandered the streets as a beggar, torn apart – until 1913, when at the request of his brother he was admitted to the Neully-sur-Marne to a psychiatric institution – he allegedly enlisted “voluntarily”, but the declaration was signed only by his doctor and his younger brother. Due to the war, he was transferred to the Montfavet mental hospital a year later.
The Mature Age” data-image_width=”640″ data-image_height=”427″ width=”640″ height=”427″/> Perhaps Camille Claudel’s most famous work, The Mature AgeChesnot / Getty Images Hungary
Although Camille’s suggestion about Rodin was dismissed as fantasy at the time, according to recent research, it is far from certain that there was no truth in it. Art historians now believe: The influence of Camille can be recognized in Rodin’s worksinspired by him, he became interested in capturing fleeting moments – what’s more, there are also unsigned works that impossible to determinewhether they were made by Rodin or Claudel, or whether they were created together. (The fact that Rodin’s signature appears on the pedestal of a statue does not mean 100% certainty of originality either: in the era, it was customary for masters to sign the works of their students.)
Camille Claudel 1935-benMondadori Portfolio / Getty Images Hungary
Later on the doctors repeatedly tried to convince Camille’s family about taking her home, since it is unnecessary to place the sculptor in a closed institution: the Claudes insisted that Camille stay in Montfavet. The family forbade him to receive letters or visitors, only his brothers were allowed to contact him, but they didn’t do it very often either: Paul Claudel visited his sister seven times in 30 years, and when he spoke about her, he did so in the past tense. Camille’s mother died in 1929, she never visited her daughter. (His father died in 1913.)
The sad life of Camille Claudel ended on October 19, 1943, thirty years spent in a mental institution after – practically he starved to death in the institution during World War II. Neither his sister, Louise, nor his younger brother, the diplomat and later recognized Catholic poet Paul Claudel, who openly supported Nazi ideals, were present at his funeral. His remains were placed in a mass grave. Several films have been made about her life: in 1988 she was played by Isabelle Adjani, in 2013 by Juliette Binoche, most recently in 2017, the Rodin and Izïa Higelin in the film. Ninety of his statues remain today in Nogent-sur-Seine, a a museum named after himis located in
If you would like to read about another woman who entered the artistic career at the beginning of the 20th century, this article we recommend it.
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