Dome

Overall view from the left side; Having conducted his research into Balzac’s body and head simultaneously, Rodin ended up with an assemblage in which these two elements conveyed their own values. While the head had evolved from a portrait resembling the writer into a concentration of expressive features, the body had moved in the opposite direction, veering towards a dilution of form in a symphony of nuances materialized in the fluid surface of the dressing gown. What Rodin finally produced in 1897, after six years of labor, was a revolutionary monument, a powerful evocation of the visionary genius. This overly innovative monument caused such an outrage when it was unveiled in 1898 that the commission was canceled. Rodin never saw his monument cast in bronze. This copy was cast by Alexis Rudier, 1935, for the museum collections. Source: Musée Rodin [website]; http://www.musee-rodin.fr/en/ (accessed 8/26/2015)