RODIN, Auguste
(b. 1840, Paris, d. 1917, Meudon)

Eternal Spring

after 1897
Marble. height 77 cm
The Hermitage, St. Petersburg

As part of the Gates of Hell, Rodin also intended to include a depiction of lovers condemned to eternal torments. This idea became the basis for many of his sculptures devoted to passion. The combination it proposed - of pleasure and torment, instantaneous ecstasy and eternity - proved exceptionally in tune with his striving to show a moment of swift movement and a paroxysm of emotion.