The Work of Art: Simmel, Rilke, and Rodin

Simmel was not only one of the very first to publish a substantial study on Rodin’s art in Germany (“Rodin’s Sculpture and the Intellectual Trends of the Present,” supplement to the Berliner Tageblatt, September 29, 1902), but also one of the first to venture a philosophical interpretation of Rodin’s art. This study is anchored in a reflection on the nature of modern art undertaken by Simmel as part of his broader interpretation of modernity in his Philosophy of Money (1900). The theme of labor emerges at the center of art, challenging aesthetics focused on beauty and grace. The pages on Constantin Meunier, appended to the final version of the text in 1911, highlight this aspect, which invites inquiry in at least two directions: on one hand, as the emergence of a different perspective on the artist’s activity, aligned with Rodin’s own self-presentation as a worker who enjoyed showing his works as much as he did in the studio—thus offering an occasion to question the labor of the artist; on the other hand, as a transformation of the conception of the artist, which transcends the realm of the visual arts with Rilke’s exaltation of labor.

SCIENTIFIC DIRECTORS

• Catherine Chevillot, Director of the Musée Rodin, Chief Curator of Heritage
• Denis Thouard, Research Director at the CNRS, George Simmel Center, CNRS - EHESS, Franco-German Research in Social Sciences

Coordination

• Hélène Pinet, Head of the Research Department, Musée Rodin 
• Hélène Zanin, Conference Officer, Research Department, Musée Rodin 

PROGRAM