Le Baiser

12 november 1840

Born

1862

Death of his sister Maria

His elder sister Maria died of peritonitis in a convent; Rodin was tormented by guilt, having introduced her to an unfaithful suitor, and turned away from art.

1862–1863

A novice under Peter Julian Eymard

Rodin entered the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament as a lay brother. Its founder, Peter Julian Eymard, saw a sculptor in him and persuaded him to return to art, offering the order's garden shed as a studio.

1880

Receives the commission for “The Gates of Hell”

His first state commission was a sculptural portal for a planned Museum of Decorative Arts; with it Rodin received two studios on the Rue de l'Université. The museum was never built and “The Gates of Hell” remained unfinished: they were first cast in bronze after the master's death.

1883

Meets Camille Claudel

Standing in for Alfred Boucher, who was away, Rodin supervised his students' course and met the eighteen-year-old Camille Claudel. She became his assistant, model, lover and creative rival.

1900

Rodin's pavilion at the World's Fair

The French government gave him an entire pavilion: a retrospective of 136 sculptures and 14 unfinished works showed “The Gates of Hell” for the first time. The exhibition brought sales of sculptures to museums around the world worth about 200,000 francs.