Auguste Rodin’s The Gates of Hell

A commission to create a portal for Paris' planned Museum of Decorative Arts was awarded
to Rodin in 1880. Although the museum was never built, Rodin worked throughout his life on
The Gates of Hell, a monumental sculptural group depicting scenes from Dante's Inferno in
high relief. Often lacking a clear conception of his major works, Rodin compensated with
hard work and a striving for perfection. He conceived The Gates with the surmoulage
controversy still in mind: "…I had made the St. John to refute [the charges of casting from a
model], but it only partially succeeded. To prove completely that I could model from life as
well as other sculptors, I determined…to make the sculpture on the door of figures smaller
than life." Laws of composition gave way to the Gates' disordered and untamed depiction of
Hell. The figures and groups in this, Rodin's meditation on the condition of man, are
physically and morally isolated in their torment.

The Gates of Hell comprised 186 figures in its final form. Many of Rodin's best-known
sculptures started as designs of figures for this composition, such as The Thinker, The Three
Shades, and The Kiss, and were only later presented as separate and independent works.
Other well-known works derived from The Gates are Ugolino, Fugit Amor, The Falling Man,
and The Prodigal Son.

The Thinker (originally titled The Poet, after Dante) was to become one of the most well-
known sculptures in the world. The original was a 27.5-inch (700 mm)-high bronze piece
created between 1879 and 1889, designed for the Gates' lintel, from which the figure would
gaze down upon Hell. While The Thinker most obviously characterizes Dante, aspects of the
Biblical Adam, the mythological Prometheus, and Rodin himself have been ascribed to him.
Other observers de-emphasize the apparent intellectual theme of The Thinker, stressing the
figure's rough physicality and the emotional tension emanating from it.

The Gates of Hell (French: ''La Porte de l'Enfer'') is a monumental sculptural group work by
French artist Auguste Rodin that depicts a scene from "The Inferno", the first section of
Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy. It stands at 6 m high, 4 m wide and 1 m deep (19.69'H ×
13.12'W × 3.29'D) and contains 180 figures. The figures range from 15 cm high up to more
than one metre. Several of the figures were also cast independently by Rodin.

History

The sculptural was commissioned by the Directorate of Fine Arts in 1880 and was meant to
be delivered in 1885. Rodin would continue to work on and off on this project for 37 years,
until his death in 1917.

The Directorate asked for an inviting entrance to a planned Decorative Arts Museum with the
theme being left to Rodin's selection. Even before this commission, Rodin had developed
sketches of some of Dante's characters based on his admiration of Dante's Inferno.

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The Decoratives Arts Museum was never built. Rodin worked on this project on the ground
floor of the Hôtel Biron. Near the end of his life, Rodin donated sculptures, drawings and
reproduction rights to the French government. In 1919, two years after his death, The Hôtel
Biron became the Musée Rodin housing a cast of The Gates of Hell and related works.

Inspiration for The Gates of Hell

A work of the scope of the Gates of Hell had not been attempted before, but inspiration came
from Lorenzo Ghiberti's Gates of Paradise at the Baptistery of St. John, Florence. The 15th
century bronze doors depict figures from the Old Testament. Another source of inspiration
were medieval cathedrals. Some of those combine both high and low relief.

Outstanding figures

• The Thinker (Le Penseur), also called The Poet, is located above the door panels.
One interpretation suggests that it might represent Dante looking down to the
characters in the Inferno. Another interpretation is that the Thinker is Rodin himself
meditating about his composition. Others believe that the figure may be Adam,
contemplating the destruction brought upon mankind because of his sin.
• The Kiss (Le Baiser) was originally in The Gate along with other figures of Paolo
and Francesca da Rimini. Rodin wanted to represent their initial joy as well as their
final damnation. He removed the figure that became known as The Kiss because it
seemed to contrast along with the other suffering figures.
• Ugolino and His Children (Ugolin et ses enfants) depicts Ugolino della Gherardesca,
who according to the story, ate the corpses of his children after they died by
starvation. (Dante, Inferno, Canto XXXIII) The Ugolino group was cast as a separate
bronze in 1882.
• The Three Shades (Les trois Ombres), which was originally 98 cm high. The over-
life size group was initially made of three independent figures in 1899. Later on
Rodin replaced one hand in the figures to fuse them together, in the same form as the
smaller version. The figures originally pointed to the phrase "Lasciate ogne speranza,
voi ch'intrate" ("Abandon all hope, ye who enter here") from Canto 3 of the Inferno.
• Fugitive Love (Fugit Amor) is located on the right door pane, it is one of several
figures of lovers that represent Paolo and Francesca da Rimini. The male figure is also
called The Prodigial.
• Paolo and Francesca is shown on the left door pane. Paolo tries to reach Francesca,
who seems to slip away.
• Meditation appears on the rightmost part of the Tympanum, shown as an enlarged
figure in 1896.
• The Old Courtesan is a bronze cast from 1910 of an aged, naked female body. The
sculpture is also called She Who Was Once the Helmet-Maker's Beautiful Wife (Celle
qui fut la belle heaulmière). This title is taken from a poem that was written by
François Villon.

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• I Am Beautiful (Je Suis Belle), cast in 1882, is among the second set of figures on the
extreme right portion of the door.
• Eternal Springtime was cast in 1884.
• Adam and Eve. Rodin asked the directorate for additional funds for the independent
sculptures of Adam and Eve that were meant to frame The Gates of Hell.