August Rodin

All about the artist

Musee Rodin

Sculpture

The Thinker and other sculptures

Auguste Rodin (1840-1917) was rejected from entering the Ecole des Beaux-Arts three times, due to his earlier training at a technical school of drawing and mathematics. So instead, at the age of 24, Rodin studied under Barye, and several years later studied with Carrier-Belleuse. He finally made an appearance at the Salon in 1875, and sculpted his first major piece, ‘The Age of Bronze’, in 1876. In 1844 the town of Calais opened a competition for a monument commemorating the resistance of the town for eleven months against the King Edward in 1346-47. Rodin worked for ten years (1876-86) on a composition of the six burghers that were held hostage.