My topic is the artist Auguste Rodin and his expressionist artwork.

Auguste Rodin was born in Paris on November 12, 1840. He is a famous sculptor. He had vision problems as a kid and so he began drawing because he was able to see shapes and color more clearly than words. After being rejected by a Paris art school, Rodin worked for 20 years laying bricks for buildings.

Rodin was inspired by a trip he took to Italy in 1875. He saw art by Donatello and Michelangelo and was inspired to create his own work. Rodin said, “It is Michelangelo who has freed me from academic scripture.” Rodin realized that he doesn’t need to conform to traditional art styles but can create what he is passionate about and display emotions and feelings like never before.

Expressionism is a modernist movement that began in early 20th century Germany. In this time, artwork that conveyed emotions was popularized. An artist named Edvard Much painted “The Scream” which was one of the first most famous artworks that did not portray history or mythology but rather conveyed human feelings.

Rodin did not want to create traditional work based off of history or conform to what the government wanted. Rodin’s work was made through expressionism and realism. Realism is the aim to depict subject matter honestly. Rodin put a lot of detail into the body of his sculptures and emphasized physicality more than previous sculptors would.

Rodin’s first sculpture was named “The Man with the Broken Nose.” It portrayed the head of an elderly porter, or bag carrier. Rodin’s work was rejected by salons in Paris because it had an unfinished look and was not accepted by most people.

Rodin’s first exhibited sculpture is named “The Age of Bronze.” It was formally exhibited in a Paris salon in 1877. It shows a nude man clenching both fists with his right hand on his head. This work depicted the suffering many countrymen faced during the Franco-Prussian War.

Rodin’s work was met with much criticism because it did not meet the classic standards of being related to history or mythology. Instead his work was centered around human emotions and the physical body. In addition, people accused Rodin of using a human mold and not creating his own sculpture.

In 1880, Rodin was asked to create the “Gates of Hell,” an art sculpture for a planned museum in Paris. The sculpture was to depict characters and scenes from Dante’s Inferno. Rodin agreed to create it because it allowed him to create a very emotional piece of work. Rodin spent years working on this piece and it was eventually left unfinished and the planned museum was never built.

While Rodin was known for his artwork already, his piece “The Thinker” gained him worldwide attention. This piece shows a man looking down with his right hand under his chin. Rodin’s sculpture was said to be looking down into hell. There is a lot of emotional tension in this piece as viewers can interpret this person and his thoughts in all different ways.

“The Burghers of Calais” is a sculpture to commemorate the six townspeople of Calais who offered their lives to save their fellow citizens during the Hundred Years’ War. The project begin in 1884 but was met with controversy as the vision of Rodin and the vision of the committee paying for the painting differed immensely.

Rodin viewed the sculpture as a way to see the complex emotions behind the actions of these six men. The committee viewed it as a celebratory piece that did not need such a sentimental analysis. The committee was not pleased with Rodin’s ideas but Rodin only agreed to stay on the project if they allowed him to continue to create in an expressionist manner. The sculpture was finished but the committee still established it as a commemorative piece, ignoring Rodin’s expressionist values. Rodin was seen as heroic in a way for staying strong to his artistic beliefs.

In all of his works, Rodin took an expressionist approach and only wanted to create art that had feeling and a sentimental meaning behind it. He didn’t want to base work off of fallacies or create because he had to. Rodin was an extremely important person in paving the road for expressionism.

This sculpture is extremely emotional and spiritual. The sculpture’s arm reaching to his head represents heroism while the bend in the right kneemrepresents human energy.