The Waltz (Camille Claudel)

The Waltz is a sculpture created around 1893 by the French sculptor Camille Claudel, existing in bronze, plaster and other versions, depicting a nude or semi-draped couple locked together in the sweeping motion of a dance, their bodies leaning and spiralling as though caught mid-turn. Its frank sensuality drew official disapproval when Claudel sought a state commission for the work, and the French administration of fine arts required her to clothe the figures in drapery before it would consider public support. Created during the period when Claudel was both artistic collaborator and romantic partner to Auguste Rodin, it is regarded as one of the works in which her own distinct, more overtly emotional sculptural voice most clearly emerges from his influence.