CC0 · no rights reserved
Head of Beethoven
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
A pioneer of modern sculpture, Antoine Bourdelle studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and worked as an assistant to Augustin Rodin, who greatly admired the younger artist’s work. In 1888 Bourdelle produced the first of a series of sculptural portraits of Ludwig van Beethoven, in which the artist orchestrated powerful billowing shapes to convey the creative spirit or genius of the composer. The artist inscribed a quote from Beethoven in the lower left: “My domain is the air; when the wind rises my soul swirls.”
Cleveland Museum of Art’s own descriptionCredit lineHead of Beethoven, 1891. Emile Antoine Bourdelle (French, 1861–1929). Bronze; overall: 59.2 x 42 x 52.1 cm (23 5/16 x 16 9/16 x 20 1/2 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Carrie Moss Halle in memory of Salmon Portland Halle, 1960.82
