The woman you see in this photo is Camille Claudel, she was the muse and lover of Auguste Rodin (sculptor and painter) but also an extraordinary sculptor, killed because she was a free woman


 Since she was a child she showed a precocious talent for sculpture. At the time women were not admitted to the Academy of Fine Arts, but an exception was made for Camille. That was how she met Auguste Rodin, a famous sculptor established in the Parisian artistic circles, becoming first his student and then his lover. The relationship with Rodin was overwhelming but also tormented by the prejudices of society and the rejection of Camille's family who disapproved of her relationship with Rodin.Many of Rodin's works were made in collaboration with Camille, but while Rodin received the honors, Camille lived in the shadows, agreeing to share him with another woman, with whom she had a son. Camille eventually broke off her relationship with the sculptor, and it was then that Camille's mother, who was ashamed of her daughter's behavior, decided to have her locked up in a mental asylum.She would never get out: all attempts to make people understand that she was not crazy were in vain, and this brilliant and ingenious woman would remain segregated for over thirty years in a miserable little room.


"I am accused of having lived alone, of having cats in the house, of suffering from persecution mania! It is on the basis of these accusations that I am imprisoned like a criminal, deprived of freedom, food, fire. Where does such human ferocity come from?"In the end, forgotten by everyone, she died in 1943, after thirty years of imprisonment. Her body was buried in a common grave, without any member of her family attending her funeral. Today, justice has finally been done to her and her works are exhibited alongside those of Rodin.


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