Louvre Exhibition Confronts Michelangelo and Rodin on the Human Body

The Musée du Louvre presents "Michel-Ange Rodin. Corps vivants" from April 15 to July 20, 2026, a transhistorical exhibition that for the first time directly compares Michelangelo and Auguste Rodin through their shared obsession with the human body. Conceived by Laurence des Cars, former president of the Louvre and former director of the Musée d'Orsay, the show aims to highlight the universality of the museum and the transmission of artistic practice across centuries. Co-curators Chloé Ariot and Marc Bormand have organized the exhibition into five sections: an introduction to the two mythic sculptors, their classical and natural models, their relationship to materials (including the non finito), the connection between body and soul, and finally energy and life. The exhibition features sculptures and about thirty drawings by Michelangelo, works by Rodin, and four contemporary pieces by Giuseppe Penone, Joseph Beuys, Jana Sterbak, and Bruce Nauman to show the enduring resonance of their concerns. A pedagogical space compares direct and indirect carving techniques. The exhibition runs at the Louvre in Paris.