Auguste Rodin exhibit first of its kind in Tampa Bay area

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - In a first for the Tampa Bay Area, the Museum of Fine Arts St. Petersburg is showing a new exhibit featuring the works of Auguste Rodin.

True Nature: Rodin and the Age of Impressionism arrived this month at the museum and features many sculptures from the French artist who was active in the 19th and early 20th century.

"Rodin was really controversial in the day because he really bucked the system, he didn’t want to produce or idealize classical beautiful figures, but instead he wanted to delve into physical realism but also psychological realism," said Stanton Thomas, Senior Curator of Collections and Exhibitions at the MFA.

The exhibition includes nearly 40 of his sculptures and about 15 of his major impressionist works. 

Since the sculptures are life size, one challenge MFA faced was how to present the artist’s work where each piece had its own space.

"When laying out the project we wanted to make sure that not only are there great sight lines but that you could really explore these things and that there is a lot of visual surprises," explained Thomas. "When you turn around corners there’s a lot of extraordinary visual effects."

Today one detail that fascinates people about Rodin’s work is how he created the surfaces of his sculptures.

"On one hand he wanted to capture the suggestion of movement, of the pulse of life in his sculptures, but on the other hand he liked these marks because they suggested the creative process," Stanton said.

The exhibition runs now through March 26, 2023. For the Museum of Fine Arts St. Petersburg's hours, ticket prices, and more, visit https://mfastpete.org/exh/rodin-and-the-impressionists/