They thought this sculpture was a fake Rodin: now it's sold for a million euros

It was unusual, but it happened: an Auguste Rodin sculpture that had been hidden from public view for almost 120 years has sold for €1.1 million at auction, surpassing its estimate of €700,000. The sculpture measures just 28 centimeters and was originally designed to be part of Rodin's monumental work The Gates of Hell, which features more than 200 figures and groups.

The previous owner was a family from central France. According to CNN, they had no idea of ​​the piece's value and had, in fact, displayed the sculpture on a piano alongside family photos. "They thought it was a fake or a copy," said auctioneer Aymeric Rouillac . "The details of the sculpture are amazing; you can see every detail: the back, the muscles, every vertebra in the spine. Everything is perfect ."

After initial research, Rouillac took the sculpture for appraisal by the Rodin Committee , which maintains a catalog of the artist's work. On Tuesday , Jerôme Le Blay , co-founder of the Rodin Committee, said he was immediately impressed by the piece and confirmed his suspicions: "I realized immediately that it was a real piece and there was no doubt about it."

As he explained, this particular piece is extremely well-made and corresponds to a period when Rodin devoted a great deal of time to his sculptures. He also noted that Rodin most likely worked with other assistants who would have done the initial work on a piece of marble before completing the final stages.

"I knew instantly that it was a real piece and there was no doubt about it."

According to Le Blay, the sculpture dates from one of the finest moments of the Frenchman's career. Upon his death, Rodin left his works to the Musée Rodin in Paris , while granting it permission to continue producing his bronze sculptures . While many of these posthumous bronzes are auctioned each year, marble pieces are much harder to find and most belong to the Rodin Museum or other great museums around the world, those in private collections are extremely rare .

The Committee also noted that the piece has a kind of magic about it due to the fact that it has reappeared for sale after so long. After the auction, it was a young banker from the West Coast of the United States who ultimately acquired the piece.

The work in question is called Le Désespoir (The Desire) and depicts a female figure seated on a rock holding one foot, her knee clasped to her chest. It was rediscovered in late 2024, after having been sold in 1906. Rodin made several versions of Le Désespoir, and this one was modeled in 1890 and sculpted in marble between 1892 and 1893.