As LACMA prepares for the 2026 public opening of the new David Geffen Galleries, the future home of the museum’s permanent collection spanning a breadth of eras and cultures, we’re sharing 50 iconic artworks that will be on view in the building over the next 50 weeks in the series 50 Works 50 Weeks.
Auguste Rodin spent years researching and preparing for his tremendous sculpture of famed French author Honoré de Balzac, travelling to the French province of Tours, where the writer lived, and seeking out models who he felt shared Balzac’s physical type. After many preparatory studies, the final version depicted Balzac wrapped in a monk’s robe, which he wore while writing. Although a plaster version of the sculpture was shown publicly in 1898, bronze versions of the work were only cast decades after Rodin’s death.
The over life-size version of Monument to Honoré de Balzac is perhaps the most dramatic of LACMA’s Rodin sculptures, which are a cornerstone of the museum’s collection of 19th-century European art. LACMA has more than 50 works by Rodin, from larger-than-life-size bronzes to intimate maquettes, all showcase the sculptor’s interest in movement and materiality and his dedication to capturing the vitality of the human form. Most of these were given to the museum by philanthropists Iris and B. Gerald Cantor, the foremost collectors of Rodin’s work in the United States, who promoted the artist widely and donated substantial gifts of his work to American museums.
In 1975, LACMA opened the B. Gerald Cantor Sculpture Garden, featuring nine Rodin bronzes, including Monument to Honoré de Balzac. As the museum’s campus transformed over the years, the sculpture garden also evolved, but always ensured that a selection of large-scale Rodin works remained an anchor of the public outdoor art program and a beloved part of the museum. A number of Rodin works, among them this version of Balzac, will soon be enjoyed by museumgoers and all who pass along Wilshire Boulevard in a reimagined Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Sculpture Garden on the grounds of the David Geffen Galleries.