THE GATES OF HELL, by AUGUSTE RODING
The "Divine Comedy" by Dante Alighieri inspired the gates, especially those from "Inferno" (the first part). They were a portrayal of the entrance to hell, according to the poem.
Rodin was asked to create a doorway for what would be the Museum of Decorative Arts in Paris in 1880. The museum didn’t come about, but he worked on the piece for many years after that. The Gates of Hell stands over six meters high and is more than four meters wide.
The sculpture is filled with many different kinds of people, from those who are suffering to characters from ancient stories. Every person has been created with great care , so they show a lot of feelings and look very real.
The structure was intended to be fluid, with forms appearing to arise from the disordered whole. The organization engenders movement and conflict within the work. In order to express the unrefinedness of the subject, Rodin came up with new techniques employing incomplete bodies and coarse surfaces in his sculpture.
"The Gates of Hell" was altered many times by Rodin as the years went by. He continually modified and rearranged figures, trying out different compositions and motifs. Before being turned into separate sculptures, such as "The Thinker" and "The Kiss," which are among his most well-known works, they started out as parts of the composition
Even though “The Gates of Hell” was never cast in bronze during Rodin’s lifetime, it is still considered one of his most famous and influential pieces. The sculpture stands as a testament to Rodin’s skill in creating sculptures and his study of human emotions and pain.
