On beauty – Rodin’s artistic Testament

Monument to Balzac - Bronze by Auguste Rodin (1898 - cast 1954) - MoMA New York

"Everything is beauty to the artist, as in all beings and all things, his penetrating gaze discovers character, that is to say the inner truth that is reflected behind the form. And this truth is beauty itself."

Auguste Rodin - Testament

And here is the original quotation in French:

« Tout est beau pour l’artiste, car en tout être et en toute chose, son regard pénétrant découvre le caractère, c’est-à-dire la vérité intérieure qui transparaît sous la forme. Et cette vérité, c’est la beauté même. »

Auguste Rodin dictated the text of the Testament to Paul Gsell in 1911 so that it could be published after his death. The text has been reproduced in 1922 in l’Histoire générale de l'art français by André Fontainas and Louis Vauxcelles (Volume 2 page 259 and subsequent) and is available online on Wikisource.

Related resources

• The artist’s inprint in all parts of his work – Rodin 
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• Art is not always about beauty
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• On being true – Rodin’s Artistic Testament
• On beauty – Rodin’s artistic Testament