It is “a deep feeling of chaste and passionate tenderness (...) of contained ardor and stifled complaint.” Faced with this entwined couple, the critic André Michel cannot hide his admiration for the young Camille Claudel who revealed, at barely twenty-four years old, her first masterpiece: Sakountala. Whether in a terracotta sketch or in a plaster model, the sculptor ends up engraving in marble, then in bronze, the story of King Dushyanta separated from his wife Sakountala. Inspired by a taste for drama, Camille Claudel brings together the star-crossed lovers of Indian literature in an embrace that is both modest and burning, where the kneeling man implores his wife's forgiveness. Should we see in these voluptuous reunions a loving response to Rodin's Unique Kiss? There was no doubt about it for Camille's brother. This exhibition is nevertheless more cautious about the intentions of his very first monumental sculpture. Nearly a hundred objects, casts, costumes and photographs take us back into the construction of an extremely stripped-down myth, retaining only the essence of a loving couple who conquered fate.

CAMILLE CLAUDEL MUSEUM
From September 14, 2024 to January 12, 2025
10 rue Gustave Flaubert,
Nogent-sur-Seine, 10400
Full price: €10 - TR: €6 - Free - 26 years old
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