Claudel started working in Rodin's workshop in 1883 and became a source of inspiration for him.
She acted as his model, his confidante, and his lover.
She never lived with Rodin, who was reluctant to end his 20-year relationship with Rose Beuret.

Knowledge of the affair agitated her family, especially her mother, who already detested her for not being a boy and never approved of Claudel's involvement in the arts.
As a consequence, Claudel was forced to leave the family home.

In 1891, Claudel served as a jurist at the National Society of Fine Arts, reported to be "something of a boys' club at the time."

In 1892, after an abortion, Claudel ended the intimate aspect of her relationship with Rodin, although they saw each other regularly until 1898.

Le Cornec and Pollock state that after the sculptors' physical relationship ended, she was not able to get the funding to realise many of her daring ideas - because of sex-based censorship and the sexual element of her work.
Claudel thus had to either depend on Rodin, or to collaborate with him and see him get the credit as the lionised figure of French sculpture.
She also depended on him financially, especially after her loving and wealthy father's death, which allowed her mother and brother, who disapproved of her lifestyle, to maintain control of the family fortune and leave her to wander the streets dressed in beggars' clothing.

Claudel's reputation survived not because of her once notorious association with Rodin, but because of her work.
The novelist and art critic Octave Mirbeau described her as "A revolt against nature: a woman genius."
Her early work is similar to Rodin's in spirit but shows imagination and lyricism quite her own, particularly in the famous The Waltz (1893).

Louis Vauxcelles states that Claudel was the only sculptress on whose forehead shone the sign of genius like Berthe Morisot, the only well-known female painter of the century, and that Claudel's style was more virile than many of her male colleagues'.
Others, like Morhardt and Caranfa, concurred, saying that their styles had become so different, with Rodin being more suave and delicate and Claudel being vehement with vigorous contrasts, which might have been one reason for their break up, with her becoming ultimately his rival.

Claudel's onyx and bronze small-scale La Vague (The Wave) (1897) was a conscious break in style from her Rodin period.
It has a decorative quality quite different from the "heroic" feeling of her earlier work.
Claudel started working in Rodin's workshop in 1883 and became a source of inspiration for him. She acted as his model, his confidante, and his lover. She never lived with Rodin, who was reluctant to end his 20-year relationship with Rose Beuret.
Knowledge of the affair agitated her family, especially her mother, who already detested her for not being a boy and never approved of Claudel's involvement in the arts. As a consequence, Claudel was forced to leave the family home.
In 1891, Claudel served as a jurist at the National Society of Fine Arts, reported to be "something of a boys' club at the time."
In 1892, after an abortion, Claudel ended the intimate aspect of her relationship with Rodin, although they saw each other regularly until 1898.
Le Cornec and Pollock state that after the sculptors' physical relationship ended, she was not able to get the funding to realise many of her daring ideas - because of sex-based censorship and the sexual element of her work. Claudel thus had to either depend on Rodin, or to collaborate with him and see him get the credit as the lionised figure of French sculpture. She also depended on him financially, especially after her loving and wealthy father's death, which allowed her mother and brother, who disapproved of her lifestyle, to maintain control of the family fortune and leave her to wander the streets dressed in beggars' clothing.
Claudel's reputation survived not because of her once notorious association with Rodin, but because of her work. The novelist and art critic Octave Mirbeau described her as "A revolt against nature: a woman genius." Her early work is similar to Rodin's in spirit but shows imagination and lyricism quite her own, particularly in the famous The Waltz (1893).
Louis Vauxcelles states that Claudel was the only sculptress on whose forehead shone the sign of genius like Berthe Morisot, the only well-known female painter of the century, and that Claudel's style was more virile than many of her male colleagues'. Others, like Morhardt and Caranfa, concurred, saying that their styles had become so different, with Rodin being more suave and delicate and Claudel being vehement with vigorous contrasts, which might have been one reason for their break up, with her becoming ultimately his rival.
Claudel's onyx and bronze small-scale La Vague (The Wave) (1897) was a conscious break in style from her Rodin period. It has a decorative quality quite different from the "heroic" feeling of her earlier work.
Camille Claudel