Camille Claudel, of Dreams and Nightmares

Camille Claudel, of Dreams and Nightmares: An Introduction

Camille Claudel, of Dreams and Nightmares is a website dedicated to the sculpture of Camille Claudel, along with a brief explanation of Camille Claudel's major works. In addition, a brief biography about Camille Claudel, images, and links.

Camille Claudel is the subject of various websites and books, as well as a film aptly titled "Camille Claudel"; especially with the recent surge in feminism, Camille Claudel's popularity seems to be much greater today than ever before.

From what I have read of various biographies of Camille Claudel, I understand that she was a woman ahead of her time; she scorned the bourgeois, just as many artists, writer, and musicians did -- in the same way that modern artists scorn the common, small-minded, and narrow society (read Hermann Hesse's Steppenwolf for a good understanding of the artist's situation in society).

Following the pattern of Vincent van Gogh and Franz Schubert, Camille Claudel was not a great "promoter" of her works, and, to make things worse, the bourgeois society, just like today, failed to understand her art (again, like the plight of Vincent van Gogh and many others).

At her core, Camille Claudel was a true rebel, not because she wanted to be, but because she had to. Camille Claudel was a true artist, in the very deepest sense.

"Some say that Plath, Woolf, and Claudel were "mad" geniuses who'd have ended up the same sad way
even if they'd each been nourished in a woman-loving family and culture.

How can such cynics be so sure?"

(Quote by Phyllis Chesler.)

Camille Claudel is well known as being Rodin's lover and muse. Despite this, she was a great artist in her own right, and her works have often been said to be much more creative in comparison to Rodin's (they were also a great influence on his own works). Unfortunately, it has also been said that he caused her to "go mad." Whether or not this is entirely true has not been proven of course. In addition to their tragic love affair, the reasons behind her mental breakdown could also be ascribed to her refusal to "give in" to the populace's taste, which resulted in poverty, her presumed alcoholism (which is debatable), declining health, and low morale; Rodin's ex-lover, a talented woman and an equal to him, who lived her life according to her own principles, was not strong enough in the end to withstand the pressures of life. As it has been said, "little things cannot grow under big trees", and Claudel was ahead of her time, and, like most great artists, unrecognised and unappreciated until after she was long gone.

Claudel's Sakountala, also known as L'Abandon, depicts Sakountala and her true love in Nirvana. Nirvana is a state of non-being; detachment; one may remain part of the cosmos, but the individual ego has expanded and died. Before reaching this state, the two lovers were estranged on earth, but before Sakountala died, a promise was made to "remember." Now, after being estranged on the earthly plane, somehow their love has survived the reality of Nirvana, yet they don't recognise what is happening or who the "other" is; however, they somehow know that the other is there. It is a love that has has survived the very death of the ego. A contradiction indeed, and also poignant.

I believe this sculpture illustrates how she felt about Rodin; perhaps like these two, he would be able to return her love again. In another state. Another form. But somehow, it would happen. It was said by the way, that Rodin was a supreme egotist.

Camille was a women who did not settle for anything less. She loved Rodin, but the relationship was tumultuous. She felt left alone. She even dated Debussy, it is said. But she could not return Debussy's love. It was over for her at that point, which brings me to another work, Clotho . . .

So was it madness or just a keen intensity of emotions? Or was it destiny bringing these two together and then the final, tragic end? Camille must have thought on these subjects heavily to produce such mature, ethereal, and ingenious works for her young age.

Clotho represents how Camille responded to her web of doom at the tender age of twenty. There is a vile ugliness and malefic quality in the depiction of Clotho; for Clotho, or Fate, was Camille's greatest enemy.

This is how Camille continued in life: afraid, alone, and so very young, yet never compromising herself. Ridden by an anguished love, depressed, drinking heavily, and secluded, Camille presents us with Medusa.

It is said the sculpture depicts Rodin as Perseus holding up Rose's head (his wife), but the eyes and certain features are Camille's. She is killing two birds with one stone here. On one hand, Rose Beuret, and also Camille. An implicit death wish.

Another piece inspired by her tumultuous relationship with Rodin. A sad, passive face, The Prayer (or The Psalm). There is a calm beneath Camille's stormy waves. A distinct "old soul" wisdom beyond her spiritedness, her wild artistic nature. It is best expressed her in The Prayer.

Of course, Camille is best remembered for her dramatic, anguished state. The Implorer (God Flown Away) and other works like it are raw, pure, and honest. Camille does not hide her emotions behind stylised artifice (like Rodin) and pretty model poses. Hers is real. Touch it, it bleeds. And where is God? Rodin, who has flown away.

Camille used her brother, Paul, for the model of Head of a Young Roman, the brother who would later become a famous poet and playright.

The Head of a Young Girl is portrayed in the film Camille Claudel, along with most of the other sculptures viewed on this website.

_______________Please click on the thumbnails below for a better, more appropriate appreciation of Claudel's famous works, Man Crouching (or Bent Man), The Gossips, and Deep Thought.

For more pictures of the works of Camille Claudel, and other informative links concerning the life and works of Camille Claudel, please continue to Page Two of this website . . .

(Essay by Wendy Koenigsmann; Copyright 2004 Wendy Koenigsmann.)