[In-Depth Look] Beethoven's Face

Director Kim Bora

During this period of pause, it seems that people are becoming closer at heart. Even small meetings are cherished, and faint smiles that were once overlooked now carry great meaning. Perhaps the resonance of silence seeps into the heart, allowing us to face our true selves. These small moments of immersion make us look and think a little longer.

Near Montparnasse Station in Paris, France, there is the Bourdelle Museum. It is a municipal museum opened in the house and atelier where sculptor Antoine Bourdelle (1861?1929) lived for over 40 years. The atelier has been preserved exactly as it was after Bourdelle passed away. The workbench where clay was kneaded and the worn chair seem to have stopped moving along with the artist. Various sculpting tools appear to be waiting for the artist to return. The dim lighting of the past evokes a nostalgic sense of those days.

Bourdelle’s atelier continues to breathe quietly like a candle that has not gone out, even though nearly a century has passed since its owner left. In front of the atelier, a small garden is hidden as if keeping a secret. When facing Bourdelle’s works approaching through the fresh green trees, one feels breathless. The works often overwhelm the viewer.

Bourdelle’s grand masterpieces, climbing the space with classical formal beauty. But that is not all. Among the monumental works, a row of several faces draws my gaze.

Here, unexpectedly, one encounters Ludwig van Beethoven (1770?1827). It is well known that Bourdelle created many faces of Beethoven. After encountering Beethoven’s music in 1887, Bourdelle produced dozens of sculptures and drawings of Beethoven until his death. The works placed in the long exhibition hall express Beethoven, the great musician and human being, at different times, with different expressions and emotions.

Bourdelle, who loved Beethoven’s music deeply, reflected profoundly on the affinity between sculpture and music. He struggled to find the true image of the musician who lived in anguish. At first, he sought Beethoven’s visible appearance; as time passed, he listened to the inner sound; and finally, he devoted himself to finding infinite spiritual freedom within the form. How mysterious it is to create a face imbued with soul in cold bronze material.

Bourdelle said, “For art to contain the heart, the hand must be left trembling as it is.” He allowed freedom to his own hands shaping the clay. Ultimately, Beethoven’s image was given a transcendental life beyond solemnity. It seems to reveal the figure of a great man beyond myth. This is a vision not felt even at Beethoven’s birthplace in Bonn, Germany, where his last piano is kept, nor in Heiligenstadt, Austria, where he wrote his testament after losing his hearing.

Bourdelle observed Beethoven for over 40 years. If a long devotion to one person is a long journey to find their true self, then there is certainly value in it. For sculptor Bourdelle, the agony of creation became the foundation of empathy and led him to project himself into the image of the musician. The process of Bourdelle completing Beethoven is no different from the process of meeting and understanding a person. It is also about discovering a self-portrait in others.

This year marks the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth. Approaching him, who we have only met through music, in a slightly different way this year seems possible.

We sometimes simplify the depth of a person into a few images. Sometimes we accept the fixed images highlighted by history as they are. Since these are created or disappear within layers of time, it might be good to take a step back and look. Surely, a different time from before will come.

Kim Bora, Curator · Director of Seongbuk-gu Art Museum

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.