I’m not going to mince words – this exhibition knocked my socks off! Get thee to Lakeland, Florida and quickly too as this exhibition is not to be missed!

Rodin: Contemplation & Dreams is a phenomenal survey of the work of a true master who reinvented sculpture much in the same way the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists reinvented the act of painting at the end of the 19th century. The Polk Museum of Art excels in the education of its visitors and this exhibit proves my point with museum labels and didactics throughout the galleries expertly explaining Rodin’s biography, style and the traditional method of casting bronze sculptures. But they don’t stop there! If guests keep reading they will learn specifics about the figures being depicted, their relevance as historical figures and their personal importance to the artist himself.

Information is also provided that explains just how revolutionary Rodin’s take on sculpture was for its time. Sculptors have carved and molded and chiseled the human form for tens of thousands of millennia (consider the Venus of Willendorf), but Rodin’s take on the human figure is full of emotion and feeling in a way that is sometimes haunting and a little unsettling.

Take, for example, a maquette of a portion of The Gates of Hell, what should have been Rodin’s masterpiece if the commission hadn’t been cancelled. What the PMA has on view is a fragment that allows guests to move in close to analyze the details. When they do, they will discover what looks to be human bodies embedded within the metal in various states of struggle. The bodies twist and contort as they seem to fight against each other in an attempt to free themselves from their horrific fate.

Two of my favorite pieces were a pair of caryatids that illustrate Rodin’s profound understanding of human anatomy and his desire to take the idea of contortion to a whole new level.

I noticed that nearly every museum label included a reminder to refrain from touching the artwork. This made me smile because it illustrated something that the museum educators and curators were subtly hinting at and that is the exceptional handling of texture inherent in the work. Rodin’s figures are so rich with texture (and even suggested movement) that the viewer may want to reach out and make contact. While this is obviously frowned upon, I think it would please the master to know that his work is still enchanting audiences to this day.

For more information on this exhibit, please visit…

https://polkmuseumofart.org/exhibitions/2021/10/15/rodin-contemplation-and-dreams