Today in my Art History class, my professor finally lectured on something I was truly interested in. Camille Claudel was an art student during the late 1800's in France. During this time female sculptresses were not very well accepted as sculpting was considered man's work. Regardless Camille was very good at sculpting. Rodin was a well known sculptor in France and he was giving a lecture at the school Camille was attending. Camille showed Rodin some of her work and he was impressed so he petitioned her to work in his workshop (basically doing all the hard parts of his sculptures, which he got all the credit for). Rodin was living with a woman and had several children with her, but despite this long term relationship; he was attracted to Camille and they become lovers. Camille was 24 years younger than Rodin. She continued working in his workshop and carrying on this forbidden relationship for 15 years, all the while Rodin promised he would leave the women he was living with. You might of guessed he never did leave her. And after 15 years of doing his dirty work and giving him the best years of her life she finally left him. After she left she completed maybe 3 sculptures, before her broken heart overcame her and she ultimately lost her mind. Her older brother institutionalized her for the last 30 years of her life and she never worked again. Tragic isn't it. I guess I found this story interesting because my husband is about twenty years older than me and I know what it feels like to be madly in love with an older man.
