Daily dose of Art n°4: La Penseuse - the Thinker, Camille Claudel
3 years ago by purplepumpkin · 137 Likes · 2 comments · Fresh
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purplepumpkin
· 3 years ago
· FIRST
Yesterday I posted The Thinker by Auguste Rodin. This Deep Thought was made 4 years earlier by Camille Claudel, who studied in his workshop when they fell in love due to their respective talent. Her art expressed what she was going through: here, it might be the pain she felt because Rodin wouldn't make things official, as he had another woman in his life. Because of this, he made her abort two times, an experience she later described as traumatic, and she also had two boys he had her give up for adoption. Her suffering is expressed by the posture of the thinker who re-evaluates her life choices and has to grab the chimney to not crumble and fall. When they broke up, Rodin, who was admittedly jealous, made it so that her art wouldn't sell. Instead, she had to duplicate some pieces and this sculpture became a lamp. It was as much as a downfall as it would be today: sell your painting at IKEA, it won't be taken seriously.
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Edited 3 years ago
purplepumpkin
· 3 years ago
Alone, she fell into depression and her brother had her locked in an asylum, despite her lucid protestations and countless letters she wrote to him and to the doctors. Her workshop and art were destroyed and she wasn't allowed to sculpt at the asylum. She died after being locked for 30 years, becoming an icon for "cursed artists".
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