Waltz

The Waltz is a sculpture by French artist Camille Claudel (1864-1943). It depicts two naked dancers, a man and a woman, frozen at a moment in time in their amorous embrace, as they dance a waltz. The womans head rests tenderly on the mans right shoulder, with their bodies fluidly merging into a single shape as the man turns his head towards the womans face as if to kiss her. The work was inspired by Claudels love affair with her mentor and employer Auguste Rodin. Various versions were made from 1889 to 1905, initially modelled in plaster, and later cast in bronze. Examples are held by the Museum Rodin and the Museum Camille Claudel. Claudel was studying with Alfred Boucher in Paris when, at the age of 19, she was first introduced to Rodin in 1883. They quickly fell into a passionate romantic relationship, which ended in 1892 because Rodin was unwilling to break away from his long-term mistress, Rose Beuret. Claudel began working on The Waltz in about 1889, while her relationship with Rodin was still passionate. They continued to work together until 1898, when Rodin saw her transparently autobiographical sculpture The Mature Age, which depicts a young woman pleading with her older lover to leave his female companion.

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