Phenomenal.
Human souls in anguish & torture.
I saw this at the Musee d’Orsay in Paris. It’s Rodin’s original plaster model.
Smarthistory have done a great little video on this sculpture. Rodin never actually completed these doors which were originally intended for an art museum.
Based on Dante’s Divine Comedy, it’s easily influenced by Ghiberti’s The Gates of Paradise (which I have just blogged about).
✲✲✲
Details:
Human souls immersed in molten rock.
Spirits fossilised?
Crystalline doors that never open.
Figures seem to emerge, move and interact with one another.
So much movement and emotion, frozen in time.
It really is truly horrifying and quite graceful & beautiful, at the same time.
Reminds me of the The Devil’s Advocate film sculpture scene:
✲✲✲
Based on Rodin’s v. famous sculpture, The Thinker.
Yes, the Ghiberti influence is clear. Depictions of hell's punishments and tortures were the horror movies of their day.
ReplyDeleteHuman souls in anguish & torture
ReplyDeleteA common theme of religious art. It might even be considered a fetish.