Camille Claudel @ The Art Institute

 

Today I took advantage of the fact that The Art Institute has "Free Admission for Illinois Residents" on weekdays (Mondays, Thursdays, and Fridays), January 8–March 22, 2024. I would recommend The Art Institute if you have some free time during the week. Being surrounded by art is good for the soul. "Gentle, Gentle"

I ended up visiting all the free spotlighted exhibits (so no special Picasso exhibit since that cost extra) as well as my old buddies like Ganesh and Van Gogh.

One exhibit that stood out to me was the one on Camille Claudel (which runs until Feb 19, 2024). I listened to the free audio tour of the exhibit which is found on the Art Institute App. The tour provided lots of context for the art by specialists in many different specialties, which was useful because while I enjoy art I don't always know what I should be noticing in a piece. 

As the gallery notes stated:

The trailblazing French sculptor Camille Claudel (1864–1943) defied the social expectations of her time to pursue original and powerful explorations of the human form.

 

Claudel’s biography—her passionate and complicated relationship with her teacher, Auguste Rodin, and her forced confinement in a psychiatric institution for the final 30 years of her life—is popularly known today, but her forward-thinking artworks have received less attention in the United States.