Hell, created in love. Auguste Rodin In the "Gates of Hell" were to merge almost all the masterpieces of Auguste Rodin (1840-1917). The most ambitious and longest work of his, which, unfortunately, never saw the light of day.
Rodin worked on it for almost thirty years, constantly changing the composition, adding and changing the figures. And as a result, "The Gates of Hell" were cast after the death of the author. It was a government order. Portal for the new building of the Museum of Decorative Art in Paris, which, by the way, has not been built. We know what inspired Rodin.
This is the "Golden Gate" Baptistery in Florence by Lorenzo Giberty. They are also called the Gates of Paradise for their beauty.
But Rodin was not before Paradise. He lived in a completely different era. And he finished his creation during the First World War, when all dreams of God and Paradise were abandoned and forgotten. Only the horror of death and the triumph of the flesh remained. Just imagine what an impression Rodin's creation should have made on the viewer. The "Gates of Hell" were to reach twelve meters in height. This is a four-storey house! And now you come up to them, you want to open them and you see this!
The sculpting science was mastered by the sculptor at an excellent level. Exactly the volume here builds all the lines. The composition seems liquid, changeable, all figures grow out of the background, break out of it and are literally ready to rush at you. And it is you, the viewer, in Hell, in its very center, you desperately want to get out, to see the light, but all the movement of the sculptural composition stubbornly pulls you to the bottom! Let's walk through the details. They are very important here. It's not just a sense of the century. It is also a biography of the sculptor, his philosophical views, his literary preferences. It is clear that the plot of the whole composition is based on the "Divine Comedy" by Dante Alighieri. And, to be more precise, his "Hell":
"I take him to the outcast villages,
I'm taking it out through a centuries-old groan,
I'm taking them to the dead generations.
My Architect was inspired by the truth:
I am the highest power, the fullness of omniscience
And first love created.
Ancient me only eternal creatures,
And with eternity,
I'll be on an equal footing.
Come in, leave your hopes behind"
Such an inscription crowns the gates of Hell at the Italian poet, and it is from this phrase was born the plan of the great sculptor. Hell was created in love. And yes, it is love that sets the tone for the whole hell of Rodin.
At the beginning on each side of the gate should have been located the figures of Adam and Eve. But this idea was rejected. Instead, we see the image of "Eternal Spring". One of the first great sculptures of Rodin. A kiss leads us upwards. It is the flight of love, the feeling of lightness, airiness, which gives us love. And at the top, there are three figures. "Three shadows". Initially, it was the image of Adam, but Rodin changed his mind. The three figures are identical. They are drawn into the pit of hell. That's where the movement begins. You are thrown into Hell, pulled into the funnel along with three shadows.
The look slides down and you see the famous thinker. It is, by the way, an image of Dante Alighieri. There is only one oddity in this figure. Usually, when we think we are relaxed, our brain is not up to the muscle tension, it is busy with others. If we are nervous, we are worried, our hands and shoulders can be tense. But not the whole body! After all, this is not an Italian poet of the end of XVIII - beginning of the XIV century. Mr. Olympia" himself, Arnold Schwarzenegger would have died of envy. But this is not just a grotesque, Rodin has everything for a reason. And the body of the thinker becomes a mirror, it reflects the movement of his thoughts. And these thoughts are hard. His look is sad and tense. And he looks not only at Hell but also at you, at the viewer. And from this look, you seem to be thrown even lower, into the depths of hell. And the composition grows, and a figure who desperately wants to get out of the gate tissue comes out. "I see nothing but infinity, and my mind is filled with fear of falling," Rodin said. And the sculpture of Icarus turns into a fallen angel, the lover turns into a fallen soul, which tries to escape from the abyss, but is about to snap down. And below in Hell, we have love itself. This is "Cupid", Rodin added a female figure to it. Paolo and Francesca, whose famous tragic love story is described by Dante, are also here. A little bit higher is the story of Count Ugolino and his sons. Here is the flesh that devours itself. Dante sees Ugolino in the 9th circle of Ada, II belt, designed for traitors and like-minded people: "...
here my eyes were two, in a pit of ice; one, like a hat, was covered with another. As the bread chews on the hungry bitch, so the upper teeth of the lower one are stuck in the place where the brain and neck close".
At his request, the cannibal is distracted from his victim, Archbishop Rujieri, and tells Dante his story: how he and his sons were captured and imprisoned in a tower. He suffered from starvation and started chewing on his fingers. The sons offered themselves to him: "Father, eat us, it will be easier for us. And it is this moment that Rodin portrays. But it's not just hell. This is the Hell of the sculptor himself. Hell of love. It is not by chance that the composition is crowned with images of his mistresses. Roses of Børe and Camilla Claudel. And these love stories are literally imbued with misfortune.
Rose, constantly suffering because of the betrayal of his lover, and Camille, brought Rodin to madness. Camille, who for a long time was the main model and companion of Rodin, very hard to live through the separation. She felt abandoned and forgotten, locked herself in a small apartment near the workshop. Didn't eat, didn't go out, didn't take anybody. And all day long she sculpted something out of clay, and then smashed her works into pieces with a hammer. In 1905, due to constant nervous breakdown of Camilla Claudel developed paranoia and exacerbated the craze of persecution. She was confident that Rodin exhibits in the salons of her work, posing them as their own. Alcohol increased the disease.
She wrote that Rodin sent her murderers... Finally, the unhappy woman was forcibly placed in a psychiatric hospital, where she spent the rest of her life. When Rodin came to visit Camilla, she had another serious breakdown, after which the doctors banned him from visiting. After all, according to Camilla, it was Rodin who was responsible for the fact that she was in a mental hospital, quite fairly. And Rodin's "Gates of Hell" became an accusation to himself. Love inspired the sculptor to great creations, but his love brought great misfortune to everyone who was turned to. Yes, it was in love that hell was created!