Rodin’s rare – A rare 1915 film captures Auguste Rodin, two years before his death, walking through the Hôtel Biron in Paris and working on marble with hammer and chisel—set inside a mansion whose rooms once served as a girls’ Catholic school and later hosted artists like Je
In 1915, Auguste Rodin was already moving through the last years of his life with the focus that made his name. The camera catches him walking down the weed-covered steps of the Hôtel Biron in Paris. then stepping into a studio where the work is immediate and physical: at a marble statue. he chips away with a hammer and chis—no ceremony. just momentum.
The footage—rare not just for what it shows. but for how close it gets to the act of making—was taken two years before Rodin’s death. There are several sequences. One moment shows the artist at the columned entrance of an unidentified structure. Another brief shot follows him posing in a garden. The rest of the film begins at the 53-second mark. and the setting narrows into something specific: the Hôtel Biron. a palatial but dilapidated mansion that Rodin used as both studio and second home.
The place itself carries layers of history that feel almost theatrical: built as a private residence in the early 18th century. it served as a Catholic school for girls from 1820 until about 1904. After it became illegal for public money to be used for religious education, the building’s purpose shifted. When the last of the nuns cleared out. the rooms were rented out to a diverse group of people—among them notable artists. including Jean Cocteau. Isadora Duncan. Henri Matisse. and Rainer Maria Rilke. Rilke, for a time, worked as Rodin’s secretary. It was Rilke’s wife, the sculptor Clara Westhoff Rilke, who first told Rodin about the place in 1909.
Rodin’s connection wasn’t casual. When he first learned of plans to sell the property off in pieces to developers, he became alarmed. He made a deal with the government: in exchange for bequeathing all his works to the French state. the sculptor was allowed to occupy the mansion for the rest of his life. After he died, the estate would become the Musée Rodin.
By the time the actor Sacha Guitry and his cameraman arrived to film the scene from Ceux de Chez Nous. or “Those of Our Land. ” Rodin was the sole occupant of the Hôtel Biron. The film shows the 74-year-old artist working inside as the house holds on around him—aging grandeur and practical tools. the studio’s quiet weight. the soundless insistence of carving.
There’s a line attached to his approach that the footage seems to match. When Rodin was asked once about how he created his statues, he said, “I choose a block of marble and chop off whatever I don’t need.”
An earlier version of this post appeared on the site in 2012. For now, the 1915 film remains what it always promised to be: a rare, unguarded glimpse of a sculptor at work, inside the mansion that history—and a bargain with the French state—helped keep standing.
Auguste Rodin Hôtel Biron Musée Rodin 1915 film Sacha Guitry Ceux de Chez Nous French sculpture Paris arts Jean Cocteau Isadora Duncan Henri Matisse Rainer Maria Rilke Clara Westhoff Rilke