Gates of Hell
Artist: Auguste Rodin
Year Composed: 1917
Artistic Movement: Impressionism
Nationality: France
Floor Found in Château: Third Garden
Year Composed: 1917
Artistic Movement: Impressionism
Nationality: France
Floor Found in Château: Third Garden
About the Artwork
"Abandon every hope, who enter here," was the line from Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy that inspired Auguste Rodin's Gates of Hell. Started in 1880 and was supposed to be completed by 1885 as the entrance for the Decorative Arts Museum (Paris, France, but was never built), Rodin worked on this doorway until his death in 1917. Along the jamb of the door portal, Rodin includes scenes and characters from Dante's Inferno, a large section of his Divine Comedy that gives an interpretation of Hell - which is used to this day as our perception of Hell and the Underworld. Several individual pieces and scenes from the Gates of Hell have become standalone works of art, including The Thinker (1880), The Kiss (1882), and Ugolino and His Sons (1881).
About the Artist
François Auguste René Rodin, better known as Auguste Rodin, is known as one of the most famous French sculptors of all time. Most of his works contain themes of mythology, allegory, and nature, highlighting the human figure and body. The emotional appeal and contorting drama meshes the intricacy of Neoclassical sculptures with the drama and emotion of the Baroque. Rodin is one of the few sculptors known outside of the art world with modern society, especially with his sculptures that include The Shade (1881), The Kiss (1882), The Thinker (1880), and The Burghers of Calais (1889).
About the Movement
Gates of Hell was composed in the Impressionist Age of art. Impressionism was characterized by extremely loose brushstrokes that were visible throughout the entire painting. This 19th-Century (or 1800s) art movement took landscapes, figures, and objects and incorporated both movement and emotion. Impressionism, in a matter of style, was almost the blending between Cubism and Baroque art; that dramatic and emotional appeal of the Baroque mixed with the inclusion of motion and the passing of time of Cubism. Some of the most famous Impressionist artists included Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Edgar Degas.
Location of Original Work of Art: Rodin Museum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
"Abandon every hope, who enter here," was the line from Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy that inspired Auguste Rodin's Gates of Hell. Started in 1880 and was supposed to be completed by 1885 as the entrance for the Decorative Arts Museum (Paris, France, but was never built), Rodin worked on this doorway until his death in 1917. Along the jamb of the door portal, Rodin includes scenes and characters from Dante's Inferno, a large section of his Divine Comedy that gives an interpretation of Hell - which is used to this day as our perception of Hell and the Underworld. Several individual pieces and scenes from the Gates of Hell have become standalone works of art, including The Thinker (1880), The Kiss (1882), and Ugolino and His Sons (1881).
About the Artist
François Auguste René Rodin, better known as Auguste Rodin, is known as one of the most famous French sculptors of all time. Most of his works contain themes of mythology, allegory, and nature, highlighting the human figure and body. The emotional appeal and contorting drama meshes the intricacy of Neoclassical sculptures with the drama and emotion of the Baroque. Rodin is one of the few sculptors known outside of the art world with modern society, especially with his sculptures that include The Shade (1881), The Kiss (1882), The Thinker (1880), and The Burghers of Calais (1889).
About the Movement
Gates of Hell was composed in the Impressionist Age of art. Impressionism was characterized by extremely loose brushstrokes that were visible throughout the entire painting. This 19th-Century (or 1800s) art movement took landscapes, figures, and objects and incorporated both movement and emotion. Impressionism, in a matter of style, was almost the blending between Cubism and Baroque art; that dramatic and emotional appeal of the Baroque mixed with the inclusion of motion and the passing of time of Cubism. Some of the most famous Impressionist artists included Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Edgar Degas.
Location of Original Work of Art: Rodin Museum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania