Camille Claudel sculpture sells for $3 million at French auction - video Dailymotion

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00:00Every intricate detail before them, onlookers stare in surprise and admiration.

00:05I tell myself that this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,

00:08that I'll probably never see it again, but I'm very happy to see it, so I'm a little moved.

00:15Listen, it's magnificent. A little too big, too fit in my house, but it's an extraordinary work.

00:23La J'mure, which translates to The Mature Age, is a famous work by Camille Claudel.

00:28It has been missing since 1908 and was found last September by an auctioneer

00:34during an appraisal of a Paris apartment. The owner had hidden it 15 years ago.

00:41It was in the darkest part of the apartment, on a dresser under a sheet.

00:45Everything was covered, there was a group of sculptures.

00:48When I lifted the sheet, I discovered Camille Claudel's signature.

00:52A signature accompanied by the number one, as this bronze is the first in a series of six.

01:00Another is displayed at the Musée Camille Claudel just outside of Paris.

01:05Her work was long overlooked. A student and lover of Auguste Rodin,

01:09she spent 30 years in a psychiatric hospital.

01:12Only later did people begin to recognise her genius. Claudel's works are still rare today.

Camille Claudel sculpture sells for $3 million at French auction

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