Rodin / Bourdelle

A short distance from the Montparnasse Tower stands another monument, two in fact: the sculptors, Bourdelle and Rodin. This autumn and winter, the student is playing host to the master in his own studio, the Bourdelle Museum. This richly-documented exhibition combining sculpture and other art forms offers insight into the symbiotic relationship that united the two artists.

A sculptural tribute

96 sculptures, 38 drawings, 26 photographs and 3 paintings. Altogether, more than 160 works will be on display to explain the mutual passion for art that Bourdelle and his master shared. The exhibition will include 60 artworks on loan from the Rodin Museum. In addition to this collection, visitors will also see artworks from great French institutions such as the Pompidou Centre, the Orsay Museum, the Petit Palais, and the House of Balzac…

The exhibition is in 4 parts:

• The soul of the material. Bourdin was Rodin’s student and also his ‘hands’, shaping stone to imitate the plaster models made by the master. An interactive digital installation invites you to slip into the shoes of Bourdelle to create, just as he did, an artwork that meets the expectations of a sculptor.

• The beauty of the fragment. Have you ever wondered why certain statues are headless or have no legs? Bourdelle and Rodin saw their art as the creation of ‘body parts’. The exhibition focuses in particular on the torso and the hands, the subject of many of the statues produced by both sculptors.

• The monument(al). Bourdelle and Rodin also devoted their time to artworks that went beyond mere sculpture, like the façade of the Champs-Élysées theatre sculpted by the former, and the Gates of Hell by the latter. Hence, this part of the exhibition compares two visions of the importance of sculpture in terms of proportion and spatial occupation.

• Metamorphosis and hybridisation. As we can tell from the ancient artefacts that both sculptors enjoyed collecting (on display in the first part of the exhibition), this section reveals their interest in centaurs, centauresses and other mythological figures.
  To put into perspective the works of Bourdelle and Rodin, your visit ends in a comparison of their sculptures with those of their contemporaries, such as Matisse and Brancusi.

From student to master

Beyond the encounter or comparison between the two sculptors, this exhibition pays a veritable homage to them both. Their creations and techniques led them each to follow their own unique path, but both shared the same innovational vision of the artistic challenges of their era.

Antoine Bourdelle spent 15 years sculpting marble alongside Rodin who, 20 years his senior, described his student as his worthy inheritor who was even capable of showing the way forward. Several years later, the student became the master of Giacometti and, in turn, passed on the legacy.

Discover the life and works of the great masters of art by visiting the exhibitions of the Paris Region.