AUGUSTE RODIN

Auguste Rodin is the greatest European sculptor of the late 1800s. Rodin is considered the father of modern sculpture, who renewed its style thanks to a new expressive language that is both realistic, romantic, and symbolic. Born in Paris in 1840 into a poor family, at the age of 35 he took his first trip to Italy: he read Dante, admired Donatello's works, and was seriously impressed by Michelangelo's sculptures. The following year his fame suddenly exploded thanks to his sculpture entitled The Age of Bronze, which appeared so "real" that the critics accused him of having carved it based on a living model.

At the Paris Universal Exposition of 1900, 150 of his works filled a pavilion that had been built in Place de l'Alma specifically for his statues. When he died he was famous worldwide, and he left the French state the sculptures and drawings he had kept in his Parisian home. In 1918 the Rodin Museum was inaugurated in the halls of one of the most beautiful palaces of the Rive Gauche: Hôtel Biron.