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Sculpture and Form

Auguste Rodin

Auguste Rodin (1840–1917) was the father of modern sculpture, who broke from polished academic tradition to model the human body with raw emotion and movement. The Thinker and The Kiss are among the most recognised sculptures in the world.

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1840–1917 · French sculptor

Rodin restored expressive power to sculpture and opened the door to modernism in three dimensions.

From the artist's life

Rodin's lifelike first major figure, The Age of Bronze, was so realistic that critics accused him of casting it from a living model.

Source: Wikipedia / Wikimedia
Portrait of Auguste Rodin
Portrait: Wikimedia Commons / Wikipedia.
  • Modelled the human body with unprecedented emotion and texture.
  • Created The Thinker and The Kiss, icons of modern sculpture.
  • Spent decades on the unfinished Gates of Hell, source of many of his figures.
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Auguste Rodin, The Burghers of Calais

Key works

Where to start

Complete list of key works

Works with a dedicated ArtAtlas page are highlighted in gold.

List checked against Wikidata

1888

The Burghers of Calais

Rodin originally wanted the sculpture placed directly on the ground — no pedestal at all — so the figures would stand at eye level with passersby on the street, which scandalized the Calais city council in 1895 and got overruled for decades.

1880

The Kiss

Rodin originally conceived The Kiss not as a standalone sculpture but as one of the condemned souls for his monumental Gates of Hell commission — the two figures were meant to be Paolo and Francesca da Rimini, caught in their sinful embrace just moments before Francesca's husband discovered them and killed them both.

1882

The Thinker

The Thinker, by Auguste Rodin, is a bronze sculpture depicting a nude male figure of heroic size, seated on a large rock, leaning forward, his right elbow placed upon his left thigh, with the back of his right hand supporting his chin in a posture evocative of deep thought and contemplation.