The Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art will present the first major exhibition in Connecticut of work by the French sculptor Auguste Rodin from January 28 to April 30.

Entitled “Rodin: A Magnificent Obsession, Sculpture from the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation,” the exhibition features 62 bronzes by the master who liberated sculpture from academic tradition.

The career-spanning works range from his first known sculpture, a portrait of his father, 1860, and his early “Mask of the Man with the Broken Nose,” 1863-64, to his late and loosely modeled dancing figures, circa 1910-11.

At the heart of the exhibition, however, are sculptures representing Rodin’s monumental public commissions, including “The Burghers of Calais,” 1884-1895; “Monument to Balzac,” 1891-1898, and, most notably “The Gates of Hell,” regarded by many scholars as the sculptor’s summation of his achievements.

Auguste Rodin, “The Kiss,” 1881-82, date of cast of cast unknown, bronze, 34 by 17 by 22 inches; Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation.

From this ambitious project grew sculptures that would standalone as independent, world-famous works of art, such as “TheThinker,” 1880, and “The Kiss,” circa 1881-82. The expressivegestures and poses assumed by the fragmented and vigorously modeledfigures in Rodin’s work give further evidence of the artist’soriginality.

Rodin’s creative methods and the lost-wax process of bronze casting will be explained in an informative display around the sculpture of “Sorrow,” 1889, and in a 53-minute film, Rodin – The Gates of Hell, the latter being screened in the final gallery.

Some of the bronzes in the exhibition were most likely cast during Rodin’s lifetime; others were cast posthumously but according to his explicit permission and instructions. In 1916, one year before his death, Rodin willed his entire estate to the French government, including his artistic property and the right to cast his works posthumously.

The exhibition was organized and made possible by the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation. Between 1945 and the early 1990s, B. Gerald Cantor (1916-1996) created the world’s largest private collection of works by Rodin.

Auguste Rodin, “The Three Shades,” 1880-1904, Musée Rodin cast 10 in 1981, edition size unknown, bronze, 38 1/4 by 37 1/2 by 20 1/2 inches; Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Collection. Promised gift to the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation.

Concentrating on quality and significance, he collectednearly 750 sculptures, drawings, prints, photographs and documents.His magnificent obsession was not only with owning Rodin’s work,but also with sharing it with the public. This effort continuesthrough Iris Cantor and the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation,which the couple founded in 1978 and which today she chairs.

More than 450 works of art from the Cantor Collection have been given to some 70 museums, including the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford University.

The Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art is at 600 Main Street. Hours are Wednesday to Friday, 11 am to 5 pm, and Saturday and Sunday, 10 am to 5 pm and open the first Thursday of each month until 8 pm.

For information, view www.wadsworthatheneum.org or call 860-278-2670.