Aurora and Tithonus

1890s–1900s

Young sculptors in Rodin's studio

His income let him hire gifted young sculptors, among them Antoine Bourdelle, Charles Despiau, Jules Desbois, François Pompon and Aristide Maillol. Constantin Brancusi left after two months, convinced that nothing grows under a big tree.

1900s

Portraits of the famous and the rich

Rodin began to receive regular commissions for portraits; his clients included Bernard Shaw, Gustav Mahler, Georges Clemenceau, the Argentine president Sarmiento, the chemist Berthelot and the philanthropist Bertha Palmer. Clemenceau was displeased: he thought the portrait looked like a “Mongol general”.

1903

Succeeds Whistler as head of the International Society

After the death of James Abbott McNeill Whistler, Rodin was elected president of the International Society of Painters, Sculptors and Engravers, largely thanks to Albert Ludovici.

20 May 1903 · Award

Commander of the Legion of Honour

1905–1906

Rilke as Rodin's secretary

In 1905–1906 the sculptor's private secretary was the German poet Rainer Maria Rilke, who later wrote an admiring monograph on Rodin.

1908

Moves into the Hôtel Biron

Rilke invited Rodin to the eighteenth-century mansion where he rented rooms; Rodin liked it so much that he took the ground floor, moved his studio there and lived there for his last years.