SALE TO THE RODIN MUSEUM, 2024 

Galerie Nicolas Bourriaud is delighted to announce the sale of a terracotta bust by Auguste Rodin (1840 – 1917), Bust of a young woman with roses in her hair, to the Musée Rodin.

The recent acquisition of this terracotta is particularly noteworthy, as it is the very first dated work (1863-1865) modelled by the hands of Auguste Rodin. It is a vital testimony to the work of this major artist.

As the museum points out in its communication, “The model’s pensive air, the very free treatment of the hair at the back and the liveliness of the modelling show a sculptor who was already a master of his art: the model’s features are rendered with sensitivity, the hairstyle and her bouquet of roses are modelled with delicacy and sensitivity. Between 1863 and 1865, Auguste Rodin rented his first studio in the premises of the glass chemist Charles Feil in the heart of the Faubourg Saint-Antoine. In these former stables, which he struggled to heat, Auguste Rodin created his first personal works. The artist offered this bust of a young woman to Charles Feil to thank him for the coal he provided to heat his studio. In 1900, at the request of Feil’s son-in-law and then at the height of his fame, Rodin agreed to sign the bust retrospectively, thus fully acknowledging his youthful work”.