From 30 May to 15 September, the National Art Gallery presents an exhibition of great French sculptor Auguste Rodin. It is part of an impressive series that began with a display of Edgar Degas in 2010. Then 74 of his works arrived to Sofia. A year later, the gallery presented a collection of early color photographs from different parts of the Earth, entitled \The Archives of the Planet. They had been commissioned by Albert Khan, a famous banker, philanthropist and pacifist. Now the admirers of fine art have the chance to see eighty sculptures and 20 drawings by Rodin bound in cycle with the name Metamorphoses.

"This exhibition is very important and interesting, since these are works that have never been displayed in Bulgaria before”, French Ambassador to Bulgaria Xavier Lapeyre de Cabanes explains. “There are large and small works, including drawings revealing the creative practice of Rodin. He has provided a lot of inspiration to Bulgarian sculptors and I hope that next year an exhibition with works by the most famous Bulgarian sculptors will be shown at the Rodin Museum”.

It is curious to know for example, that one of Bulgaria’s greatest sculptors Andrey Nikolov studied art in Paris in his youth. There he worked to expand his creative horizons following new trends in art including the impressionist quests of August Rodin. Works by Nikolov were displayed at the Annual Salon of French artists. The commentary of Rodin about Andrey Nikolov was explicit: "Bulgaria is small for this artist!”

As indicated by the curator of the exhibition on the French side Sophie Biass-Fabiani, it is composed mostly of gypsum works. Of course, there are also works in marble and bronze. Some gypsum works allow further work with bronze. Others, although made of gypsum, are fully accomplished, patina-treated and signed. The drawings in the exhibition have been made with pencil or watercolors. Originally they were not intended for public showing, and this is only took place after 1900. Some of them were created at the end of Rodin’s career when he was less concerned with sculpture.

„In terms of sculpture works we took for a starting point a piece that is basic for Auguste Rodin, and it is the Gates to Hell. It was ordered by the French government in 1880 and Rodin was committed to it almost throughout his life”, Sophie Biass-Fabiani specifies. “It was cast in bronze after his death. From this gate we present only two small parts. Rodin used some motifs from the gate and made them into autonomous sculptures. We discover these figures in various works. His avant-garde approach was also demonstrated in that he picked various motifs and grouped them together.”

The works in the Sofia exhibition come from the Rodin Museum. They are part of the donation that the French sculptor made to his motherland France. According to the curator on the Bulgarian side Associate Prof. Boris Danailov, a tradition has emerged in the cultural relations between Bulgaria and France in recent decades and it is to carry out large-scale events. And given that first-class works arrive for them, such events are remembered for a long time afterwards.

English version: Daniela Konstantinova