The Prodigal Son
circa 1880-1884
Most people know Auguste Rodin for his heavy, brooding bronze sculptures, but this sketch reveals his wild, expressive side as a draftsman. Created around 1880, it captures a desperate, tangled embrace—likely the biblical Prodigal Son collapsing into a forgiving figure's arms. Rodin used rapid, scratchy ink lines and watery washes of gray and brown to convey raw emotion and movement rather than perfect anatomical details. It’s a fascinating glimpse into how the master of modernism worked out his intense ideas on paper before chiseling them into stone.