''Eternal Springtime'' (french: L'Éternel Printemps) is a c. 1884 sculpture by the French artist
Auguste Rodin
François Auguste René Rodin (12 November 184017 November 1917) was a French sculptor, generally considered the founder of modern sculpture. He was schooled traditionally and took a craftsman-like approach to his work. Rodin possessed a uniqu ...
, depicting a pair of lovers. It was created at the same time as ''
The Gates of Hell'' and originally intended to be part of it.
Rodin originally conceived of ''Eternal Springtime'' as part of ''The Gates of Hell'', one of the representations of
Paolo Malatesta and
Francesca da Polenta, but did not include it there because the happiness expressed by the lovers did not seem appropriate to the theme.
''
The Kiss'', another famous sculpture by the artist, shares the same origin, but unlike ''The Kiss'' in ''Eternal Springtime'' the man dominates the composition, sustaining the arching body of his lover that joins him in a passionate kiss.
Rodin took the woman's torso, with its arched pose, from the ''
Torso of Adele
''Torso of Adele'' is an 1878-1884 sculpture by the French artist Auguste Rodin, originally modelled in plaster before being worked in terracotta.
Work
Judith Cladel (Rodin's friend and biographer) states that it arose from his study of caryati ...
'' that appears in the upper left corner of the
tympanum on ''The Gates of Hell'';
[ the model was Adele Abruzzesi, originally from Italy, and for the man ]Lou Tellegen
Lou Tellegen (born Isidor Louis Bernard Edmon van Dommelen;"Lou Tellegen, Idol of Stage and Silent Screen, Stabs Himself Seven Times." Spartanburg (SC) Herald, October 30, 1934, pp. 1-2. November 26, 1881 or 1883 – October 29, 1934) was a ...
. However, at the time of his creation of ''Eternal Springtime'', he was in a romantic relationship with Camille Claudel, and Reine-Marie Paris, the granddaughter of Claudel's brother Paul Claudel, has suggested that traces of her can be discerned in the woman of this piece and in other female figures prominent in works he created in the mid-1880s.
The work was reproduced several times in bronze and marble. A marble version dating to c. 1901 was sold at auction in May 2016 for a then record-breaking $20 million.
Gallery
File:Rodin Museum - Eternal Springtime 02.jpg, ''Eternal Springtime'' in marble at the Rodin Museum
File:Eternal Springtime, Auguste Rodin, c. 1886, bronze - Huntington Museum of Art - DSC05255.JPG, A bronze copy at the Huntington Museum of Art
The Huntington Museum of Art is a nationally accredited art museum located in the Park Hills neighborhood above Ritter Park in Huntington, West Virginia. Housed on over 50 acres of land and occupying almost 60,000 square feet, it is the largest ...
File:Philbrook - Ewiger Frühling - Rodin.jpg, Copy at the Philbrook Museum of Art
File:13699 La-eterna-primavera-1.jpg, Bronze cast at Museo Soumaya
File:Eternal Spring by Auguste Rodin, High Museum of Art 1.jpg, Bronze cast at the High Museum of Art
References
External links
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{{Auguste Rodin
Sculptures by Auguste Rodin
1884 sculptures
Nude sculptures
Sculptures of the Musée Rodin