Figure 2. Camille Claudel. Yes, another museum dedicated to the ego of another male artist. But before we get started, we must address the elephant in the room.
And as so often happened, happens, will happen, older men have a thing for younger women and young women find powerful men attractive. It is apparently genetically encoded in all of us. Has something to do with preservation of the species and all that.
Women want powerful men so that when they have children, they and their children will be protected. Men want young, healthy wombs for their offspring.
Basic, like I said. So, Camille had a thing for Rodin and he had a thing for her. And as these things go, it was pretty productive, if not reproductive and she went from pupil to assistant to colleague. But this thing she had for Rodin was pretty intense and she wanted him to leave his companion, his Rose. And maybe sometimes he promised her he would, but men are like that, right? And maybe Camille would have gotten over it, eventually, maybe the passion, the pain, would have continued to inspire her work.
Figure 3. So then you ask, how is it that Camille Claudel spent the last 30 years of her life in a mental institution. So, we do not have to worry about our bona fides being challenged by the well meaning feminists amongst us asking how we dare consider the life and career of a man who caused a woman so much anguish.
