''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 ''The Gates of Hell'' (french: La Porte de l'Enfer) is a monumental bronze sculptural group work by French artist Auguste Rodin that depicts a scene from the ''Inferno'', the first section of Dante Alighieri's ''Divine Comedy''. It stands at 6 ...

'' 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 Paolo Malatesta (; – 1285), also known as il Bello ('the Beautiful'), was the third son of Malatesta da Verucchio, lord of Rimini. He is best known for the story of his affair with Francesca da Polenta, portrayed by Dante in a famous episode ...

and

Francesca da Polenta Francesca da Rimini or Francesca da Polenta (died between 1283 and 1286) was a medieval noblewoman of Ravenna, who was murdered by her husband, Giovanni Malatesta, upon his discovery of her affair with his brother, Paolo Malatesta. She was a co ...

, 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'' 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 Camille Rosalie Claudel (; 8 December 1864 19 October 1943) was a French sculptor known for her figurative works in bronze and marble. She died in relative obscurity, but later gained recognition for the originality and quality of her work. The ...

, and Reine-Marie Paris, the granddaughter of Claudel's brother

Paul Claudel Paul Claudel (; 6 August 1868 – 23 February 1955) was a French poet, dramatist and diplomat, and the younger brother of the sculptor Camille Claudel. He was most famous for his verse dramas, which often convey his devout Catholicism. Early lif ...

, 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 The Rodin Museum is an art museum located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania that contains one of the largest collections of sculptor Auguste Rodin's works outside Paris. Opened in 1929, the museum is administered by the Philadelphia Museum of Art. T ...

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 larges ...

File:Philbrook - Ewiger Frühling - Rodin.jpg, Copy at the

Philbrook Museum of Art Philbrook Museum of Art is an art museum with expansive formal gardens located in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The museum, which opened in 1939, is located in a former 1920s villa, "Villa Philbrook", the home of Oklahoma oil pioneer Waite Phillips and his ...

File:13699 La-eterna-primavera-1.jpg, Bronze cast at

Museo Soumaya The Museo Soumaya is a private museum in Mexico City and a non-profit cultural institution with two museum buildings in Mexico City — Plaza Carso and Plaza Loreto. It has over 66,000 works from 30 centuries of art including sculptures from Pre-H ...

File:Eternal Spring by Auguste Rodin, High Museum of Art 1.jpg, Bronze cast at the

High Museum of Art The High Museum of Art (colloquially the High) is the largest museum for visual art in the Southeastern United States. Located in Atlanta, Georgia (on Peachtree Street in Midtown, the city's arts district), the High is 312,000 square feet (28, ...

References

External links

* {{Auguste Rodin Sculptures by Auguste Rodin 1884 sculptures Nude sculptures Sculptures of the Musée Rodin