France · 100th anniversary of the death of Auguste Rodin

Issue date3 Feb 2017

Total mintage10,020,500

EU maximum10,000,000

Editions4

Edge lettering2 ★ ★ × 6, alternating upright/inverted

InscriptionRF / A. Rodin / 1917-2017

DesignerJoaquin Jimenez

mintMonnaie de Paris, Pessac

Issue occasion

The commemorative coin honours the French sculptor Auguste Rodin on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of his death. The design shows Rodin forehead to forehead with his best-known work The Thinker (Der Denker). Above them are the letters “RF” for “République Française”; “A. Rodin” and the anniversary dates “1917-2017” can be read on his beard.

The design

To mark the 100th anniversary of his death, the Monnaie de Paris pays tribute to the famous French sculptor Auguste Rodin. Born in 1840, the artist is one of the most important representatives of Realism. “The Thinker”, “The Kiss”, “The Gates of Hell” and “The Burghers of Calais” are among the timeless masterpieces of sculpture.

The coin design shows Auguste Rodin, so to speak, forehead to forehead with his best-known work, “The Thinker”. Above them, the artistically designed letters “RF” for “République Française” can be seen. His name, “A. Rodin”, and the anniversary dates “1917-2017” are inscribed on the artist’s beard.

The twelve stars of the European flag are depicted on the coin’s outer ring.

Background on the topic

Rodin was born in Paris in 1840. After attending a school focused on drawing and arts and crafts, he initially worked, among other things, as an ornamental sculptor. The state École des Beaux-Arts rejected him several times. His training therefore took place outside the academic path customary at the time. A journey to Italy brought him into particular contact with the sculptures of Michelangelo.

Rodin attracted public attention with the life-size figure “The Age of Bronze” (Das eherne Zeitalter). Its lifelike modeling led to suspicions that he had cast it from a human body. The controversy shows how far his working method departed from the conventions of academic sculpture. Rodin retained body postures, irregular surfaces, and visible traces of modeling as means of expression. He also reused individual figures and body parts in new contexts.

Many of his best-known figures were created in connection with the commission for “The Gates of Hell” (Das Höllentor), awarded in 1880. The monumental portal was intended for a planned museum of decorative arts in Paris and referred to Dante’s “Divine Comedy” (Göttliche Komödie). The museum was never built, and Rodin worked on the unfinished ensemble for decades. “The Thinker” (Der Denker), later executed as an independent work, was originally conceived for this portal. “The Kiss” (Der Kuss) also originated from a group of figures belonging to this thematic context.

With “The Burghers of Calais” (Bürger von Calais), Rodin commemorated an episode of the Hundred Years’ War (Hundertjähriger Krieg): six citizens were to surrender themselves to the English king after the siege of their city. Instead of a heroic single figure, Rodin created a group displaying different gestures of determination, fear, and exhaustion.

Rodin bequeathed his works, his collection, and the rights to his artistic estate to the French state on the condition that a museum be established. This gave rise to the Musée Rodin in the Paris Hôtel Biron. The round anniversary of his death therefore gave France an occasion to commemorate an artist whose estate is institutionally closely connected with the state and whose works influenced the development of modern European sculpture.