1881-1885 : Her arrival in Paris and encounter with Auguste Rodin: a decisive turning point
Like Alfred Boucher, Rodin is seduced by the exceptional talent of his new student. At the age of 19, she is admitted to his studio as an assistant and rapidly becomes his collaborator, mistress, model and muse.
Moving to Paris
In 1881, Louise Athanaïse Claudel moves with her three children to Paris (135 Boulevard du Montparnasse). She has evidently given in to her husband’s desire to provide their son the opportunity to pursue a higher education. Paul enters the Lycée Louis le Grand, while Camille takes sculpting lessons at the Académie Colarossi (10 Rue de la Grande Chaumière).
Learning with the masters
In 1882, the family lives at 111 Rue Notre-Dame des Champs. Camille Claudel rents a studio at n° 177 of the same street, sharing the rent with other young women, most of whom are English. Alfred Boucher visits once a week to correct their work. Rodin agrees to take over from his friend Alfred Boucher, to whom the Prix du Salon of 1882 offers the opportunity to enjoy a study trip to Italy. In the autumn, the latter departs for Florence.
Alfred Boucher had presented Camille Claudel to Paul Dubois, a native of Nogent-sur-Seine, director of the École des Beaux-Arts fine arts school. Paul Dubois is cited among the young sculptor’s masters in the Salon catalogues, but his role in her apprenticeship at this time remains unknown.
The Old Helen bust dates from this period. The teachings of Alfred Boucher are evident in this work’s naturalistic style.
In Rodin studio
In 1880, the Department of Fine Arts had commissioned Rodin to design the portal to the future Museum of Decorative Arts (The Gates of Hell), to be built on the site of the old Court of Auditors burnt down during the Paris Commune in 1871. This commission allowed him to benefit from a studio at the state marble depot, located on Rue de l’Université, which he would retain for the rest of his life, and obligated him to hire assistants, especially as this commission was soon followed by that for The Burghers of Calais (officially commissioned in January 1885). He would work on this ensemble in his studio at 117 Boulevard de Vaugirard.
Rodin is seduced by the fiery temperament and exceptional talent of his new student. In 1884, she is admitted to his studio as an assistant and rapidly becomes his collaborator, mistress, model and muse. They work together in harmony, sharing studios and models. Her own works betray the influence of her master. Their intense, tormented relationship would have an everlasting effect on both artists.
Jessie Lipscomb, a young English sculptor, arrives in Paris in 1883. She stays with the Claudels, while working at the studio at 177 Rue des Petits Champs.
Exhibition: S.A.F.: Bust of Madame B..., plaster (n° 3474) (whereabouts unknown)
1885: The Claudel family moves to 31 Boulevard de Port-Royal. In April, Camille Claudel registers for the anatomy gallery of the Natural History Museum.
Paul and Camille Claudel attend Mallarmé’s famous Tuesday gatherings.
Exhibition:
S.A.F.: Giganti (n° 3495) (cast at the Nogent-sur-Seine Museum) and Old Helen in terracotta (n° 3497) (kept at the Nogent-sur-Seine Museum)
1876 – 1881: An early vocation discovered and encouraged by Alfred Boucher
It is in Nogent-sur-Seine that young Camille first becomes fascinated in modelling and receives her first lessons by the sculptor Alfred Boucher, moved by her precocious talent. This encounter would prove decisive for her future.
Installation in Nogent-sur-Seine
In the autumn of 1876, Louis-Prosper Claudel is promoted to registrar of mortgages in Nogent-sur-Seine. The couple and their three children move for three years to a fine townhouse dating from the 18th century, today extending out like a prow at the museum entrance.
Camille, Louise and Paul are aged 12, 10 and 8, respectively. Their education is entrusted to a private tutor, Monsieur Colin, who would manage to provide them with a solid formal education.
“Between grammar, arithmetic or history lessons, this studio [the family house] is the centre of general activity. With the help of her younger sister and her young brother, […] Mademoiselle Claudel reigns sovereign. Under her direction, and while she feverishly twists her lumps, one person beats the clay for modelling, a second mixes the plaster, a third poses as a model…” (...)“At this time, she has yet to take a single drawing or modelling lesson. Her only concept of the naked body is that provided by her écorché, and a few engravings from old books. No matter, with a wonderful enterprising spirit, she creates naked forms that seem most credible to her […] Everything she reads inspires sculptural motifs.”
(Mathias Morhardt, « Mademoiselle Camille Claudel », in Mercure de France, Paris, 1898).
It is in Nogent that she models her first earthen figurines: David and Goliath, Bismarck and Napoleon (lost works).
Decisive encounter with Alfred Boucher
At the age of twelve, Camille Claudel demonstrates a remarkable gift for sculpture. Her father, troubled by this vocation evident at such an early age, seeks the advice – most likely through his children’s tutor – of the sculptor Alfred Boucher, who regularly visits his parents still residing in Nogent-sur-Seine. Alfred Boucher is the first to detect her talents, teaching her the rudiments of sculpture and lavishing her with advice. Just recently awarded second prize in sculpture for the Prix de Rome bursary in 1876, Boucher’s judgement carries great weight with Louis-Prosper Claudel. This meeting would prove decisive for the future of the young girl fiercely determined to become a sculptor.
Eugénie Plé, the Claudels’ old servant, remembers :
“Alfred Boucher advising Camille […] to move to the capital"
(Yves Lacasse, Claudel : les œuvres de jeunesse, in the catalogue for the exhibition Claudel – Rodin, p. 22).
But the young girl’s vocation brings her parents into conflict: a female sculptor is a challenging concept in this late 19th century, when a woman must choose between either marriage or a career resulting in solitude and a renunciation of her sexuality.
1864 – 1876: Early childhood in a provincial middle-class family
The Claudel siblings grew up in an insular family, in an atmosphere of constant squabbling, between an abrupt yet loving father attentive to the education of his children and a mother focused on day-to-day concerns and needy of affection.
Fère-en-Tardenois and Bar-le-Duc
Camille Claudel is born on 8 December 1864 in Fère-en-Tardenois (in the Aisne department), where her father, Louis-Prosper Claudel, is a collector of registry fees. He had married Louise-Athanaïse Cervaux in 1862. Camille is the eldest of three children. Her sister Louise is born on 2 February 1866, also in Fère-en-Tardenois, and her brother Paul is born on 6 August 1868 in Villeneuve-sur-Fère, in the presbytery where the family is welcomed in 1866 by the priest, Madame Claudel’s uncle.
In 1870, Louis Prosper Claudel is transferred to Bar-le-Duc (in the Meuse department).There, Camille is instructed by the Sisters of the Christian Doctrine.
Holidays at Villeneuve-sur-Fère
Villeneuve-sur-Fère would remain an important anchoring point for all three children. Camille and Paul would never forget their escapades among the stream of rocks sculpted by the elements, in the very heart of the forest, at the place known as “Le Géyn”.
Every year, they would also spend a few weeks with Louis-Prosper Claudel’s family in the Vosges, on the shore of Lake Gérardmer.
Camille and Paul
The Claudel children are raised within a closed, tense family circle. According to his son, Louis-Prosper Claudel is hard and severe, but honest and devoted to his family. Madame Claudel is occupied all day long with the household chores. “Never a moment to think about herself, nor very much about others", "She never kissed us". The family’s values are work, effort, economy, honesty and a sense of duty. Over the years, Camille and Paul have built up an intense relationship that would last all their lives. They support and encourage one another, becoming very close.
The building
The museum’s major objective is to present the oeuvre of Camille Claudel, with the museum – located in the historic heart of the town of Nogent-sur-Seine – housing the greatest collection ever assembled of this great artist’s works.
A museum-island
In this pre-existing context, our intention was to articulate the preserved edifices with new volumes. This architectural grouping forms an urban island in the heart of town, composing a series of exhibition spaces.
Views are afforded between the exhibition area and the streets bordering the museum, allowing for a conjugation of the site's memory and past with its new functionality.
From an architectural point of view, the museum’s volumes are in harmony with the neighbouring houses and surrounding landscape. Indeed, sitting atop a hillock of the historic town centre, the museum acts as a landmark, alongside the church, the large mills and the power plant that together form the urban silhouette of Nogent-sur-Seine.
Brick
Brick represents the principal building material for the museum.
While the surrounding constructions utilize bricks in a more decorative manner, this material entirely covers the museum’s facades, making the edifice both stand out and blend into its setting.
Comprised of clay, the bricks are related by their plastic nature to the work of the sculptor, who transforms raw matter with his or her hands. For this reason, bricks manufactured according to artisanal methods have been favoured.
Presenting the artist’s oeuvre
Offering an architectural arrangement to best present the oeuvre of Camille Claudel is both the point of departure and the finality of this museum. The museography has been reduced to its simplest expression, to allow the artist’s powerful works to speak for themselves.
Only a harmony of colours has been sought between the floors, paintworks and furnishings, so as to give full and free expression to the oeuvres on exhibit.
Adelfo Scaranello, Architect
June 2015
Contributors from the agency Architectures A. Scaranello: Markus Muller, Lucie Waquet, Martin Quelen, Thibaud Szadel
Partners : MDA Lumière - Stéphanie Daniel (museographic lighting)
From the Dubois-Boucher Museum to the Camille Claudel Museum
The origins of the museum: Alfred Boucher
In 1902, Alfred Boucher was a famous and respected artist who accrued distinctions and public commissions. He spent his time between Aix-les-Bains and Paris where, that year, he opened the “La Ruche” residence to house his less affluent fellow artists. However, he had not forgotten the town in which he had grown up and, still in 1902, he embarked on creating the museum in Nogent-sur-Seine. As soon as it was inaugurated, the collection included a significant number of sculptures, which grew rapidly in the years that followed. In addition to Alfred Boucher’s donations, other sculptors or their heirs have also made donations. Hence, some of the masterpieces in the Camille Claudel Museum were already on display in 1902: Le Souvenir by Paul Dubois, Première Pensée d’amour (First Thought of Love) by Marius Ramus, the busts of his parents by Alfred Boucher. However, the collection is not just about sculpture. Alfred Boucher donated part of his collection of paintings and graphic arts, supplemented by donations from contemporary painters such as the landscape artist Léonce Vaÿsse. Other donors are behind a heterogeneous collection of engravings, antiques, medals, coins... A wide-ranging collection of ceramics is due to the combined generosity of the Sevres Manufactory (792 objects) and Élise Boucher, Alfred Boucher’s wife (54 objects). This exceptional contribution by the Sevres Manufactory was no doubt fostered by Alfred Boucher’s personal connections and is reflected in the very substantial exhibits donated by the Cité de la Céramique for the reopening of the museum in 2017.
Establishment of the first museum in Nogent-sur-Seine
In 1902, the museum was initially set up on the first floor of the “Château”, an old house acquired by the municipality in 1899 that stands in the middle of a public garden. It spread to the second floor in 1903, and in 1905, an old shed located further down was renovated and transformed into a sculpture gallery. It was designed to accommodate such monumental works as Joan of Arc by Paul Dubois and the Monument to Doctor Ollier by Alfred Boucher, which were then added to the collections. This extension helped to establish the institution as a museum of sculpture, even though the painting and archaeology collections continued to grow until the Second World War brought them to a halt. The museum was looted and many of the works in the original collection still remain unaccounted for. After the war, French sculptures of the late 19th and early 20th centuries were completely discredited and remained so for many years. Ultimately, the building reverted to its museum function in 1974 in order to present the findings of local archaeological excavations. Then, in 1978, Jacques Piette was appointed curator and undertook colossal work to inventory, study, restore and showcase the collections. The buildings were renovated and the restored sculpture gallery was opened in 1995.
Birth of the Camille Claudel Museum
In 2003, a Camille Claudel exhibition was organized in Nogent-sur-Seine with the collections compiled by Reine-Marie Paris, the artist’s great-niece, and Philippe Cressent. Its outstanding success - some 40,000 visitors in three months - sparked the idea of setting up a new ambition for the Dubois-Boucher Museum by establishing a substantial Camille Claudel collection. Two initial works were acquired: an Étude pour la Tête d’Hamadryade (2006) and L’Implorante (small model) (2007), then, in 2008, Reine-Marie Paris and Philippe Cressent agreed to sell to the town the collections they had built up over many years of intensive research. The very same year, Perseus and the Gorgon, the artist’s only monumental marble sculpture, was acquired thanks to the patronage of several companies and the State’s participation (Fonds national du patrimoine). Finally, in 2008, the municipality purchased the house where Camille Claudel lived with her parents from 1876 to 1879. The foundations of the Camille Claudel Museum project were laid. Yves Bourel and then, from 2012, Françoise Magny, conceived a project that would combine the presentation of Camille Claudel’s career with a sense of context. The first part of the tour presents a panorama of French sculpture in the era of Camille Claudel, thanks to the Dubois-Boucher museum’s collection and some sixty exhibits donated by fifteen different institutions. The collection has been restored to its former glory thanks to a comprehensive restoration campaign and the interior designed by the architect Adelfo Scaranello.
Amenities for your visit
Cloakroom
Freely accessible cloakrooms are made available during your visit (a 1-euro coin is needed for the locker). For safety reasons, the lockers are opened and emptied each evening. The museum may not be held responsible for any theft or damage.
Audioguides
The Camille Claudel Museum offers guided visits, information sheets about the galleries as well as audio guides providing additional information about the collections. Audio guides, equipped with a magnetic buckle, are available upon request at the Museum's reception desk and allow for accessing the multimedia resources in the course of the visit. They are designed with freedom and conviviality in mind so that everyone can visit at his or her own pace, listening to the commentary that suits the visitor, alone, with family or friends. The Museum offers a wide range of activities for individual visitors and families: discovery and thematic visits, family activities, live show and much more!
Adult audio guides available in French, English and German (free)
Family audio guide available in French only (free)
Mobile application
The mobile application of the Musée Camille Claudel provides users with the audio-guide commentary. We encourage you to download the app before you arrive at the Camille Claudel Museum.
Boutique
The museum boutique offers a selection of books and items related to the oeuvre and life of Camille Claudel and the museum’s sculptural collections: museum guidebooks, exhibition catalogues, postcards, notebooks, etc. The boutique is located near the reception.
Accessible, comfortable visits
Disabled visitors and those accompanying them enjoy priority, no-wait access to the museum. The entrance is located on 10 Rue Gustave Flaubert.
Parking near the museum
Two disabled-only parking spaces are located on Rue de l’Etape au vin.
Admission
Free admission for disabled visitors and persons accompanying them. Disabled visitors enjoy direct access to the entrance checkpoint and are kindly requested to present a valid disability card.
The museum is fully accessible to reduced-mobility visitors. Folding chairs and wheelchairs are made available upon simple request at the museum reception. In addition, audio guides equipped with an induction loop (for the hearing deficient) are also available upon request.
The museum welcomes all proposals for activities destined for disabled visitors, for persons benefitting from charitable, social-reinsertion and literacy programmes, and for persons undergoing medical treatment. The museum also offers tours and activities in LSF (French sign language) for the hearing-impaired.
For more information, please contact the booking office.
Admission
Individual visitors
Full price
€8 outside exhibition periods
€10 during exhibition periods
Reduced rate*
(large family cardholders and seniors over 60)
€4.50 outside exhibition periods
€6 during exhibition periods
Free*
Students and young people under 26, museum scientific staff with ICOM or press, cards, job seekers, disabled war veterans
and their escorts, disabled visitors and their escorts. The first Sunday of the month for individuals.
*To benefit from these conditions, visitors must present the appropriate document(s)
Tickets valid for one day.
Annual season ticket: €15
Combined ticket with Château de la Motte-Tilly: €12
Tours for adult groups (10 to 25 persons)
- Group rate: €110 + visitation fee: €4.50 per person (excluding temporary exhibition periods)
- Group rate: €110 + visitation fee: €6 per person (during temporary exhibition periods: from March 30 to July 28, 2024, and from September 14, 2024, to January 12, 2025)
Right to speak out loud for a lecturer-guide from outside the museum (excluding school groups, extracurricular groups and charity groups) :
- Right to speak fee: €25 + visitation fee: €4.50 per person (excluding temporary exhibition periods)
- Right to speak fee: €25 + visitation fee: €6 per person (during temporary exhibition periods: from March 30 to July 28, 2024, and from September 14, 2024, to January 12, 2025)
Self-guided groups are required to rent headphones : €30 fixed rate
Public opening hours
Summer hours – April 1st to Octobre 31st
Tuesday to Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Closed on Mondays
Winter hours – Novembre 2nd to January 12th
Wednesday to Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Closed on Mondays and Tuesdays
We are closed on the following bank holidays: January 1st, May 1st, November 1st, December 25th
The museum remains open to the public on the other bank holidays not cited above, according to the regular opening days and hours.
The ticket office closes 30 minutes prior to the closing of the museum.
Access
Nogent-sur-Seine is located in the Aube département in the Champagne region. The entrance of the Camille Claudel Museum is at 10 rue Gustave-Flaubert.
Coming by train
Nogent-sur-Seine SNCF station is barely one hour from the Gare de l’Est station in Paris.
The Camille Claudel Museum is ten minutes on foot from the railway station.
Coming by car
Located 1 hr 20 mins from the French capital, the Musée Camille Claudel benefits from major trunk roads linking Nogent-sur-Seine with Paris via the A5 motorway (exit no. 18), Troyes via the D619 secondary road (1 hr), Reims via the D951 (1 hr 45 mins), Sens via the D939 (45 mins) and Provins via the D619 (20 mins).
Free parking spaces are available at the Parking Fournier car park (1 Rue Paul Fournier, 10400 Nogent-sur-Seine) and at the church car park in the town centre.