“Rebellion against nature: a female genius!” – said the famous critic Octave Mirbeau about Camille Claudel – a brilliant sculptor of his time (1864-1943).
At the end of the 19th century, girls were forbidden to enter official art schools. Obsessed with sculpture since childhood, Claudel studied at the private Académie Colarossi.
The high quality of teaching and a significant tribute to freedom attracted painters and sculptors not only from France, but also from the USA, England, New Zealand and Russia to the Academy.
Women in it were allowed to write and sculpt even from naked male nature.
Together with other girls, Camilla rented a workshop. Then she met the famous sculptor Auguste Rodin, who began to teach them lessons.
Later she worked in his workshop, became his inspiration, model and mistress.
In 1882, Camille’s work “Bust of an Old Woman or Old Helen” was accepted into the famous Parisian Salon.
The creative influence of Rodin and Claudel was mutual: Camille helps in the work on his sculptures, poses, they make some sculptures together, they constantly exchange ideas.
But no one buys her work, she remains just a “student of the great Rodin”, moreover, she depends on him financially.
Camille Claudel: the evil fate of a female genius
Rodin also did not want to marry Camille – he had a long relationship with another woman who helped him in difficult times and brings up a common son with him.
For a while, Camille left Rodin, works on her own, even starts an affair with Claude Debussy and continues to make amazing sculptures.
Camille later returned to Rodin, but the relationship became too complicated.
Camilla developed a persecution mania, she accused Rodin of stealing her ideas, and even of wanting to kill her and steal her work, her mental state deteriorated greatly.
Brother and mother placed Camilla in a psychiatric hospital.
There she spent the last 30 years of her life.
Camilla repeatedly asked her brother to take her home. The doctor and nurses claimed that she was behaving calmly, but her relatives did not agree to return her from the hospital. It is known that the mother never visited Camilla all the time.
You can watch the 1988 film about the life of Camille Claudel, which received many awards. Isabelle Adjani as Camille and Gerard Depardieu as Rodin.
About the last years of her life in 2003 there was a film with the magnificent Juliette Binoche in the title role “Camille Claudel, 1915”.
