Rodin’s Egypt 

 

November 19, 2025-March 15, 2026

ISAW(Institute for the Study of the Ancient World) NYU | 15 East 84th St.

 

 

What does the celebrated father of modern European sculpture, Auguste Rodin (1840–1917) have in common with the art of ancient Egypt?

 

You can find out more in our new exhibition Rodin’s Egypt, opening on Nov. 19, 2025!

 

 Rodin's Egypt spotlights the French master sculptor Auguste Rodin’s (1840–1917) little-known fascination with ancient Egypt through the Egyptian artifacts he collected and his own sculptures that were inspired by them. Featuring over sixty works from the Musée Rodin in Paris, the exhibition surveys the profound impact that Egyptian art had on the sculptor's artistic practice and his approach to the human form. It also showcases Rodin’s enchantment with the Egyptian body in its many iterations, from the monumental figures of pharaohs to the chimeric anatomy of gods, and how this then cultivates conversations on corporeality across the centuries. Admission is free and open to the public through March 15, 2026.

 

 

Rodin’s Egypt is curated by Bénédicte Garnier, curator at the Musée Rodin in Paris. The loans are generously granted from the Musée Rodin, with additional items from The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The exhibition and its accompanying catalogue were made possible by the generous support of the Leon Levy Foundation.

 

Accompanying the exhibition is a slate of free public programming throughout its run. This month you can stroll through the galleries on opening day with our guest curator Bénédicte Garnier from the Musée Rodin and ISAW assistant curator Carl Walsh and get the behind-the-scenes scoop on the objects and how the show came together. Registration is required due to limited space, so make sure to register through the link below.

 

If you can’t make the gallery talk on opening day you can instead join one of our free tours led by ISAW and NYU graduate students! On Fridays 6-7pm you can enjoy a general introduction to the main themes and works in the show, while on Saturdays 11-11:45am deep dive into a particular object and theme in our Object Histories tour. No registration is required, just join on the day!

 

On view till March 15th!

 



 

Rodin's Egypt Gallery Talk

Bénédicte Garnier

 

Wednesday, November 19th, 2025

5:30 pm - 6:30 pm

ISAW Gallery

This lecture will take place in person at ISAW.

 

Registration is required.

 

Please join us as Carl Walsh, ISAW Assistant Curator, hosts a conversation with Bénédicte Garnier, Musée Rodin, in the gallery for a behind the scenes look at Rodin’s Egypt. Bénédicte and Carl will address the themes of the exhibition, discuss Rodin’s sculpture and his Egyptian antiquities on display, and explore comparative perspectives on the representation of the human.

 

Bénédicte Garnier is in charge of the antiquities collection at the Musée Rodin. She has curated the exhibitions La Passion à l’œuvre, Rodin et Freud collectionneurs (Musée Rodin, 2008) and Rêve d’Egypte (musée Rodin, 2022) and co-curated Rodin Displacement (Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, 2021), Rodin and Ancient Greece (British Museum, 2018), Rodin: La lumière de l’antique (Musée de l’Arles antique/Musée Rodin, 2013), and Rodin: Le rêve japonais (Musée Rodin, 2007). Garnier's publications include Rodin: Antiquity is My Youth: a Sculptor's Collection (2002) and Rodin intime: La villa des Brillants à Meudon (2015). She has her doctorate in art history from the Paris-Sorbonne and graduated from the Ecole du Louvre, where her work focused primarily on the history of sculpture (seventeenth–twentieth century), collecting, and artist’s houses.

 

This lecture is given in conjunction with ISAW's exhibition Rodin's Egypt. This exhibition and its accompanying catalogue were made possible by generous support from the Leon Levy Foundation.

 

 

ISAW(Institute for the Study of the Ancient World) NYU

Hours:

Wednesday-Sunday, 11am-6pm

Friday 11am-8pm

Free Guided Tours every Friday at 6pm and Saturday at 11am

https://isaw.nyu.edu