Ten Years Apart, Now One: The Walking Man

The Walking Man has an interesting backstory. One day, Rodin came across a clay torso in his studio that he'd originally made while working on Saint John the Baptist — the very torso now displayed in the case behind this sculpture. Deciding to reuse it, Rodin combined it with a pair of legs he'd separately made for that same John the Baptist project.

Rather than simply joining the two together, though, he chose to give the torso a slight twist as he worked. The result is the sculpture in front of you now. The upper and lower halves had actually been made nearly ten years apart, and combining them gave rise to an entirely new work. And true to its title, Rodin deliberately left the figure without arms, so that attention would stay focused on the act of walking itself.