| The Gates of Hell | |
|---|---|
.jpg) At the Museo Soumaya | |
| Artist | Auguste Rodin |
| Medium | Bronze |
| Location | Musée D’Orsay, Paris (plaster model); casts in various places |
The Gates of Hell (French:La Porte de l'Enfer) is a monumental bronze sculptural group work by the French artistAuguste Rodin that depicts a scene from theInferno, the first section ofDante Alighieri'sDivine Comedy. It stands at 6 metres high, 4 metres wide and 1 metre deep (19.7×13.1×3.3 ft) and contains 180 figures.
Several casts of the work were made, which are now in various locations around the world. Rodin's original plaster model is in theMusée D’Orsay, Paris. The figures range from 15 centimetres (6 in) high up to more than one metre (3 ft). Several of the figures were also cast as independent free-standing statues.
The sculpture was commissioned by the Directorate of Fine Arts in 1880. Rodin worked on and off on this project for thirty-seven years, continuously adding, removing, or altering over two hundred human figures on the doors, until his death in 1917.[1]
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 ofDante'sInferno.[2]
The Decorative Arts Museum was never built. Rodin worked on this project on the ground floor of theHôtel 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 theMusée Rodin, housing a cast ofThe Gates of Hell and related works.[citation needed]
Through me the way into the suffering city,
Through me the way to the eternal pain,
Through me the way that runs among the lost.
Justice urged on my high artificer;
My Maker was Divine authority,
The highest Wisdom, and the primal Love.
Before me nothing but eternal things
Were made, and I endure eternally.
Abandon every hope, who enter here.
Rodin conceived that people would walk toward the work, perhaps up a flight of stairs, and be overwhelmed frontally by the massive gates, contemplating the experience of hell that Dante describes in hisInferno. Rodin thought particularly of Dante's warning over the entrance of the Inferno, "Abandon every hope, who enter here."[3]
A work of the scope ofThe Gates of Hell had not been attempted before, but inspiration came fromLorenzo Ghiberti'sGates of Paradise at theBaptistery of St. John,Florence, 15th century bronze doors depicting figures from theOld Testament. Another source of inspiration was medieval cathedrals combining high and lowrelief. Rodin was also inspired by Michelangelo's frescoThe Last Judgment, Delacroix's paintingThe Barque of Dante, Balzac's collectionLa Comédie humaine and Baudelaire's poemsLes Fleurs du mal.[4][5]
In an article inLe Matin, Rodin said: "For a whole year I lived with Dante, with him alone, drawing the eight circles of his inferno. [...] At the end of this year, I realized that while my drawing rendered my vision of Dante, they had become too remote from reality. So I started all over again, working from nature, with my models."[6]
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The original sculptures were enlarged and became works of art of their own.
Most of the individual figures portrayed on the gates do not originate in Dante. Rodin's sculptures are not illustrations of scenes fromInferno. Rather, Rodin “reinvented” Dante's hell to include figures who personified his own conception. Dante's Adam and Eve, for example, are in Paradise, thought to have been “rescued” from eternal damnation by Christ on Holy Saturday in the Harrowing of Hell.[citation needed]
The three shades are a transformation of three sinners whom Dante encounters in the Seventh Circle of murderers, suicides, and sodomites, all included among the violent against others, self, and nature.[citation needed]
Other figures are either fully invented by Rodin or derive from other literary sources.[citation needed]
| External videos | |
|---|---|
.JPG) | |
 Rodin'sThe Gates of Hell,Smarthistory[9] | |
| The Gates of Hell, The story of a damned artwork,Canal Educatif[10] |
The original plaster was restored in 1917 and is displayed at theMusée d'Orsay inParis.[9] A series of plaster casts illustrating the development of the work is on view at theMusée Rodin inMeudon. Also in 1917, a model was used to make the original three bronze casts:
Subsequent bronzes have been distributed by the Musée Rodin to a number of locations, including:
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)son influence se fait sentir dès 1880 avec la mise en œuvre de la Porte de l'Enfer[[Baudelaire's] influence is felt from 1880, with the beginning of his work onThe Gates of Hell]
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