Knowing the sculptor Rodin through his art impressed
me for many years. I went to the Rodin museum in Philadelphia studying his
pieces. I devoured books with his art work. Small reproductions of The Kiss and
The Thinker complimented my garden and my bookcase. As an artist, he fascinated
me. Then one day I saw the movie Camille Claudel and noted the way their relationship
abused and destroyed her. My respect for him and his art dissolved. No, the man
and his art cannot be separated.
I sought information, reading various viewpoints about
this passionate couple. But I only saw Rodin devouring the talent from Camille,
draining her of her natural right, to better his own self. This obsession
between them screams ‘why’ to both of them.
Why did they remain in such a personal power struggle? Obviously he
gained from it. She couldn’t sever herself from him even knowing that she was
dying because of it.
It makes me wonder if relationships such as these
are a result of a former life. It is often said that when we reincarnate, we
meet the same people again but in a different kinship. What life could they
have possibly led before to create such beautiful work but such a personal
disaster in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.