Michelangelo and Rodin at Louvre Paris

An exhibition of works by Michelangelo (1475-1564) and Auguste Rodin (1840-1917), sculptures, sketches and drawings, will occupy the Napoleon Room of the Louvre Museum in Paris for three months.

By choosing the body as the central subject of their works, Michelangelo and Rodin perceive it as animated by an intense inner life.

Presenting filiations, borrowings and borrowings, the exhibition proposes a sensitive reading of the myths of the two geniuses and invites to a rethinking of sculpture, not as an element that “creates form”, but as a laboratory of artistic innovation, says the exhibition presentation, around which several events will be organized.

Auguste Rodin’s art is perhaps the most expressive since the golden age of Michelangelo Buonarroti, William Ernest Henley said on May 10, 1890, of his Parisian protégé. The poet and editor of the Magazine of Art had promoted Rodin through exhibitions and reviews, but his comparison with the important Renaissance sculptor was already based on older publications.

Rodin discovered Michelangelo in 1876 during his first trip to Italy. The sculptures he produced in the following years reflect his passionate admiration for the Renaissance master.

Sculptor, painter, architect, engineer and poet, Michelangelo Buonarroti was all of these at the same time. In the 89 years of his life, he was constantly confronted with art in different forms. A complete and complex artist with multiple talents, he continues to fascinate today.

“Corps vivants” is curated by Marc Bormand, curator in the sculpture department at the Louvre Museum, and Chloé Ariot, curator at the Musée Rodin.

The exhibition, organized by the Louvre in exceptional collaboration with the museum dedicated to Rodin, will be open from 15 April to 20 July 2026.

Photo: Michelangelo – “L’esclave mourant”, Rodin – L’âge d’airain; Musée du Louvre, Musée Rodin