The Sculpture That Set Camille Claudel's Auction Record
3 min read · 25 Mar 2025
La Valse Première Version. Image courtesy of Sotheby's
Camille Claudel, La Valse (The Waltz), First Version (1892) sold for $7.91m (£5.12m) at Sotheby's in London on June 19, 2013. The bronze work had been traded three times before.
Claudel created La Valse, her most famous work, near the end of her ten-year love affair with Auguste Rodin, which began when she was his young apprentice.
She completed the plaster cast of what became known as the "première version" of La Valse in 1892, when the two sculptors were growing apart, professionally and romantically.
The record breaking bronze, the only one made of her first version, was cast the following year. In her second version of the sculpture the male and female dancing figures are nude from the waist up. In a lost original they were completely nude, with no swirling drapery.
La Valse (Deuxième Version). Image courtesy of Sotheby's
The sale beat Claudel’s previous auction record by $6.05m, a 300% rise. The previous record was set by La Valse, Second Version (1895), which sold for $1.86m at Sotheby's on May 7, 2013.
A Brief History of Camille Claudel at Auction
Sale Date | Title | Price | Record Increase | Venue | City |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2013-06-19 | La Valse Première Version | $7.91m | 324 % | Sotheby's | London |
2013-05-07 | La Valse (Deuxième Version) | $1.86m | 11 % | Sotheby's | New York |
2013-02-06 | L'abandon | $1.68m | 12 % | Christie's | London |
2006-05-04 | Abandon | $1.5m | 269 % | Sotheby's | New York |
1989-03-31 | L'Abandon, or Sakountala | $406,400 | 680 % | Poulain & Le Fur | Paris |
1988-03-18 | Torse d'une vieille femme ou Clotho | $52,100 | 11 % | Ader Picard Tajan | Paris |
1987-06-24 | La Valse Ou Les Valseurs | $46,900 | 4 % | Briest | Paris |
1986-03-18 | La valse | $45,000 | - | Briest | Paris |
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