Karmyn Goodson Art 100 Mr. Nyaberi November 21, 2014 Auguste Rodin: “Gates of Hell” The motivation that Auguste Rodin used to create the sculpture “Gates of Hell,” came from the first part of Dante Alighieri’s poem The Divine Comedy. The name of this poem was called Inferno, which means ”hell” in Italian. Rodin imagined the scenes described by Dante as a world with limitless space and a lack of gravitational pull. This expressive thought allowed for endless and essential experimentation by the artist, with figures that obey no rules in their poses, sexuality, and emotional expressions. For Rodin, the chaotic population on The Gates of Hell enjoyed only one final freedom—the ability to express their pain with complete abandonment. The artist discarded the specific narratives of Dante's poem in the end, and today The Gates is no longer a structured representation of Inferno. Instead, the figures on the doors poignantly and heart-renderingly evoke universal human emotions and experiences, such as suffering, forbidden love, and punishment, but they also advice maternal love, contemplation, and unapologetic society. …show more content…
Although the museum did not come to fruition and the doors were never fully realized, The Gates of Hell became the defining project of Rodin's career and a key to understanding his artistic aims. In the time that it took to build the sculpture, for thirty-seven years, Rodin constantly, added, removed, or altered more than a couple hundred human figures that were on the project. Famous pieces like The Thinker, The Kiss, or The Three Shades were removed from the structure and view as its own separate center