But why did Rodin adorn Balzac, the brilliant author of the terrible Human Comedy, with a vulgar dressing gown? However, the sculptor hesitated, made several attempts, imagined a frock coat then a home dress before finally deciding on this shapeless silhouette captured in the heat of creative energy. An outrage to the writer for some, a visionary work for others, the first to embody the interiority of a man beyond his physical appearance. The master of expressive grace, sin of the flesh and explicit offering statues on the image of a middle-aged man with an imposing build draped in a bathrobe, making the body of a sacred monster disappear from the literature under a layer of unsightly clothing. With this strange plaster ghost, Rodin depicts the power of literary genius, the metamorphosis of a workaholic “into a galley slave of letters”. Designed from a selection of sculptures, casts, 19th ^th century fashion pieces from the Palais Galliera and unpublished archives from the library of the Institut de France, this fascinating exhibition launches in pursuit of this lost body considered unsightly by his contemporaries, whose absence gave birth to one of the greatest scandals in the history of art. A revenge for this immensely talented giant who is self-conscious about his appearance...

RODIN MUSEUM
From October 15, 2024 to March 2, 2025
77 rue de Varenne, 75007 - M° Varenne (13)
Tue-Sun 10 a.m.-6:30 p.m., closed Mon.
Price: €15 - Free - 26 years old