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The Confidence

The Confidence is a sculpture by the French artist Camille Claudel, also known as La Confidence. Created in 1897 in onyx and bronze, it shows four nude women seated together, with one woman confiding in the other three as they lean toward her to listen. The work was first modeled in plaster between 1893 and 1895 and shown at the Salon, where it attracted strong interest. Several versions were later made, including the 1897 onyx and bronze version from the Peytel collection, exhibited at the Rodin Museum in Paris, as well as a version held by the Camille Claudel Museum. The group is regarded as one of Claudel’s masterpieces.

The Confidence marble sculpture showing four seated women in two facing pairs against a dark background.
The Confidence, a white marble sculpture of four seated women arranged in two facing pairs.
March 2017 © · Public domain
The Confidence, a white plaster sculpture of four closely gathered figures inside a cave-like enclosure.
The Confidence shown as a white plaster sculpture with four figures gathered within a textured, cave-like setting.
February 2022 © · CC BY-SA 4.0
The Confidence sculpture showing three figures seated closely together in a recessed alcove.
The Confidence depicts three seated figures grouped closely together in a recessed stone alcove.
April 2018 © · Public domain
Close-up of The Confidence showing four closely grouped carved figures in polished green stone.
The Confidence, shown here in a close-up of the four intertwined figures carved in green stone.
March 2014 © · Public domain

Identification

TitleThe Confidence
Original French titleLes Causeuses
Alternative titlesLe pettegole; Les Bavardes; La confidenza; La Confidence

Creator

ArtistCamille Claudel
Artist nationalityFrench
Artist occupationSculptor

Historical context

Date conceived1893
Date created1893–1895
Creation period1890s
Original versionPlaster
Series contextPart of a series of small-scale works Claudel called "sketches from nature"
Related earlier worksVertumne et Pomone; L'Âge mûr
InspirationClaudel reportedly observed a group of women talking during a train journey
Letter mentionMentioned in a letter to her brother, sent with a sketch titled La confidenza

Physical characteristics

Early composition featureIn the first plaster version, the group was placed behind a folding screen
SubjectFour nude seated women, one whispering to the other three who lean toward her to listen
Type of workSculptural group

Materials

Primary materialsOnyx and bronze
Later version materialsJade, marble, and bronze
Earlier version materialPlaster

Technique

VersioningSeveral later versions were made, with and without the folding screen

Location and ownership

Collection associated with notable versionPeytel collection
Bronze version locationLa Piscine, Roubaix
Plaster version locationMuseum of Art and History, Geneva
Notable version current locationMusée Rodin, Paris
Notable version1897 onyx and bronze version made for collector Joanny Peytel

History and restoration

First public exhibitionSalon de Paris, 1895
Exhibition titleÉtude sur nature ("Study from life")
ReceptionSuccessful at the Salon; it aroused great interest

Other

Critical receptionGustave Geffroy praised the work as an apparition of truth, intimate, with a poetry of old age and shadow, a marvel of intelligence and human feeling; Mathias Morhardt called it a "prodigious masterpiece" and compared its importance favorably to modern works such as Les commères
Critical interpretationGeffroy emphasized the poor bodies grouped together, the close heads, the secret being formed, and the mystery of chiaroscuro around the speaker and listeners; Morhardt interpreted it as four women seated in a narrow railway carriage, confiding a precious secret

Significance

RecognitionConsidered one of Camille Claudel's masterpieces
Artistic significanceSeen as showing Claudel's creativity and originality, reflecting her life