Michelangelo and Rodin

Michelangelo and Rodin – 
Living Bodies
at the Louvre
15 April – 20 July
Monday 11 May at 6:00pm

Michelangelo Buonarroti and Auguste Rodin must surely be the most famous sculptors in the history of Western European art. They both made the human body the central subject of their lives’ work, but as much as the physical form and its seemingly endless possibilities, they both wanted to show that what we see is animated by an inner life: the appearance of the body reflects the thoughts of the mind and the yearnings of the soul.

The comparison is one that Rodin made himself, developing the techniques behind the Italian master's unfinished works to reveal the fertile subjects of emergence, development, growth and change on which so much of his sculpture depends. As usual, we will take a 'virtual tour' around this exhibition to see if it really is as rich a field as the curators suggest, given that the exhibition ‘proposes a new perspective on sculpture not as the making of forms, but as a laboratory for breaking new artistic ground’. We won't be disappointed: both artists were, undoubtedly, innovative in their work, and even if the exhibition doesn’t reach such exalted heights, we will have seen some truly fantastic sculpture! 

Please remember, I do not record my talks.