"The heart was made to be broken."
Oscar Wilde (playwright)
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For nearly a decade, French sculptors Camille Claudel and Auguste Rodin were entangled in a tumultuous love affair. But when Rodin refused to leave his longtime companion Rose Beuret, the couple finally called it quits.
They say time heals all wounds, but The Age of Maturity, a stunning sculpture Claudel created a few years after breaking up with Rodin, suggests otherwise.
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Camille Claudel, "The Age of Maturity"l; (or "Destiny" or "The Path of Life", or "Fatality"), 1899, bronze, Musée Rodin, Paris.
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When The Age of Maturity debuted publicly in 1899, critics claimed it was an allegory of human destiny, showing how time sweeps Man from Youth towards Death. Today, many art historians see the sculpture as a representation of Claudel’s despair over losing Rodin.
The man standing between the two female figures? They say that’s Rodin, and the young, "imploring" figure kneeling on the right is Claudel. With outstretched arms, she begs her lover to come back. But the empty space between them, the visual center of the sculpture, indicates that their separation is forever.
Rodin’s chosen partner, Beuret, is on the left. Wrapped in a whirlwind of fabric, she leads Rodin away, her weathered, old body a reference to Death. If the Claudel figure’s rounded belly is any indication, Beuret might have been stealing both a lover and a father-to-be.
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Top: detail of the Camille Claudel figure. Bottom: detail of the Rose Beuret and Auguste Rodin figures.
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Claudel was not only Rodin’s mistress. She was also his collaborator, working beside him in his Paris studio. Though she spent the earlier part of her career in his shadow, with The Age of Maturity Claudel became truly independent from her former mentor, establishing her own style and point of view.
It seems that breaking up with Rodin may have broken Claudel’s heart, but it brought her incredible artistic inspiration.
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Photograph of Camille Claudel.
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 The heart was made to be broken.
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Oscar Wilde (playwright) 
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Camille Claudel, "The Wave" (or "The Bathers"), 1897 – 1903?, Onyx marble and bronze, Musée Rodin, Paris.
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Which artist painted this painting?
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