The genius of Rodin on show in Treviso

(by Elisabetta Stefanelli) (ANSA) - Treviso, February 23 - Works by Auguste Rodin are on show at the Museo di Santa Caterina in Treviso for the final event in the programme marking the centenary of the French master's death. The works on show - 25 drawings and 50 sculptures - are on loan from the Musee di Parigi, which is about to undergo a massive facelift. 'Rodin. Un grande scultore al tempo di Monet', curated by Marco Goldin, takes visitors on a chronological journey through the life and work of the man who considered life to be the pure and infinite expression of the human soul. The exhibition includes the nucleus of his production, namely The Gates of Hell, the monumental sculptural group work that occupied him for several decades and in which his love for Camille Claudel, his pupil and muse, is a central theme. This love has left traces in other works on show, including the portrait of Rodin executed by Claudel herself, and of the lover sublimated in the sculpture Thought - featuring a woman's head emerging from a rough-hewn block - following the end of their relationship. This apparently 'unfinished' work "links Rodin to the final period of Michelangelo, of whom he was a great admirer", says Goldin. The influence of the great Renaissance sculptor, artist and architect can be seen in works executed before and after Rodin's journey to Italy in 1876. "Sculpture seems far removed from us as a preference and feeling for the world," Goldin continued.
    However, the emotion conveyed by works such as The Thinker, Kiss and the Portrait of Balzac is undeniable. The exhibition also includes two works by other artists that contain and dialogue with all the other works on show.
    These are Fishing netsatPourvilleby Monet and Rodin's "Thinker" in Dr Linde's Garden in Lübeckby Edvard Munch.