The Gates of Hell - wikipedia The Gates of Hell This article is about the Rodin sculpture. For other uses, see Gates of Hell ( disambiguation ). The Gates of Hell, Museo Soumaya, Mexico City The Gates of Hell, The Kunsthaus Zürich, Zurich. The Gates of Hell ( French : La Porte de l'Enfer ) is a monumental 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 metres high, 4 metres wide and 1 metre deep ( 19.7 × 13.1 × 3.3 ft ) and contains 180 figures. The figures range from 15 centimetres ( 6 in ) high up to more than one metre ( 3 ft ). Several of the figures were also cast independently by Rodin. Contents 1 History 2 Inspiration for The Gates of Hell 3 Outstanding figures 4 Locations 5 See also 6 References 7 Further reading 8 External links History The Gates of Hell - Musée d'Orsay. The sculpture was commissioned by the Directorate of Fine Arts in 1880 and was meant to be delivered in 1885. Rodin would continue to work on and off on this project for 37 years, until his death in 1917. The Directorate asked for an inviting entrance to a planned Decorative Arts Museum with the theme being left to Rodin 's selection. Even before this commission, Rodin had developed sketches of some of Dante 's characters based on his admiration of Dante 's Inferno. The Decorative Arts Museum was never built. Rodin worked on this project on the ground floor of the Hôtel Biron. Near the end of his life, Rodin donated sculptures, drawings and reproduction rights to the French government. In 1919, two years after his death, The Hôtel Biron became the Musée Rodin housing a cast of The Gates of Hell and related works. Inspiration for the Gates of Hell Rodin conceived that people would walk toward the work, perhaps up a flight of stairs, and be overwhelmed frontally by the massive gates, contemplating the experience of hell that Dante describes in his Inferno. Rodin thought particularly of Dante 's warning over the entrance of the Inferno, `` Abandon every hope, who enter here. '' Through me the way into the suffering city, Through me the way to the eternal pain, Through me the way that runs among the lost. Justice urged on my high artificer ; My Maker was Divine authority, The highest Wisdom, and the primal Love. Before me nothing but eternal things Were made, and I endure eternally. Abandon every hope, who enter here. Dante, Inferno, 3.1 - 9 A work of the scope of The Gates of Hell had not been attempted before, but inspiration came from Lorenzo Ghiberti 's Gates of Paradise at the Baptistery of St. John, Florence ; the 15th century bronze doors depict figures from the Old Testament. Another source of inspiration was medieval cathedrals ; some of those combine both high and low relief. Rodin was also inspired by Michelangelo 's fresco The Last Judgment, Delacroix 's painting The Barque of Dante, Balzac 's collection La Comédie humaine and Baudelaire 's poems Les Fleurs du mal. In an article by Serge Basset printed in Le Matin in 1890, Rodin said : `` For a whole year I lived with Dante, with him alone, drawing the circles of his inferno. At the end of this year, I realized that while my drawing rendered my vision of Dante, they had become too remote from reality. So I started all over again, working from nature, with my models. '' Outstanding figures The Thinker in the Gates at the Musée Rodin Detail, upper left - hand door The original sculptures were enlarged and became works of art of their own. The Thinker ( Le Penseur ), also called The Poet, is located above the door panels. One interpretation suggests that it might represent Dante looking down to the characters in the Inferno. Another interpretation is that the Thinker is Rodin himself meditating about his composition. Others believe that the figure may be Adam, contemplating the destruction brought upon mankind because of his sin. The Kiss ( Le Baiser ) was originally in The Gate along with other figures of Paolo and Francesca da Rimini. Rodin wanted to represent their initial joy as well as their final damnation. He removed the figure that became known as The Kiss because it seemed to conflict with the other suffering figures. Ugolino and His Children ( Ugolin et ses enfants ) depicts Ugolino della Gherardesca, who according to the story, ate the corpses of his children after they died by starvation ( Dante, Inferno, Canto XXXIII ). The Ugolino group was cast as a separate bronze in 1882. The Three Shades ( Les Trois Ombres ) was originally 98 cm high. The over-life size group was initially made of three independent figures in 1899. Later on, Rodin replaced one hand in the figures to fuse them together, in the same form as the smaller version. The figures originally pointed to the phrase `` Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate '' ( `` Abandon all hope, ye who enter here '' ) from Canto III of the Inferno. Fleeting Love ( Fugit Amor ) is located on the right door pane, it is one of several figures of lovers that represent Paolo and Francesca da Rimini. The male figure is also called The Prodigal. Paolo and Francesca is shown on the left door pane. Paolo tries to reach Francesca, who seems to slip away. Meditation appears on the rightmost part of the tympanum, shown as an enlarged figure in 1896. The Old Courtesan is a bronze cast from 1910 of an aged, naked female body. The sculpture is also called She Who Was Once the Helmet - Maker 's Beautiful Wife ( Celle qui fut la belle heaulmière ). This title is taken from a poem by François Villon. Fallen Caryatid Carrying her Stone is based on the figure at the top of the left pilaster. Around 1881 Rodin enlarged her and gave her a stone. I Am Beautiful ( Je suis belle ), cast in 1882, is among the second set of figures on the extreme right portion of the door. Eternal Springtime ( L'Éternel printemps ) was cast in 1884. It exists in several separate versions, both in marble and in bronze. Adam and Eve. Rodin asked the directorate for additional funds for the independent sculptures of Adam and Eve that were meant to frame The Gates of Hell. However, Rodin found he could not get Eve 's figure right. Consequently, several figures of Eve were made, none of which were used, and all of them were later sold. Locations External video Rodin 's The Gates of Hell, Smarthistory The Gates of Hell, The story of a damned artwork, Canal Educatif The plaster original was restored in 1917 and is displayed at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris. A series of plaster casts illustrating the development of the work is on view at the Musée Rodin in Meudon. Also in 1917, a model was used to make the original three bronze casts : The Musée Rodin, Paris. The Rodin Museum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The National Museum of Western Art in Ueno Park, Tokyo. Subsequent bronzes have been distributed by the Musée Rodin to a number of locations, including : The Kunsthaus Zürich, Zurich The Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford University The Plateau, Seoul, Korea Museo Soumaya, Mexico City See also Dante and his Divine Comedy in popular culture References Jump up ^ Elsen, Albert E. ( 1963 ). Rodin. New York : Museum of Modern Art. p. 35. Jump up ^ Fisher, Paul Zelanski, Mary Pat ( 2011 ). The Art of Seeing ( 8th ed. ). Upper Saddle River, NJ : Prentice Hall. pp. 73 -- 4. ISBN 978 - 0 - 205 - 74834 - 1. Jump up ^ Musée Rodin, La Porte de l'Enfer ( French ) Jump up ^ Musée Rodin Jump up ^ Le Normand - Romain, Antoinette ( 1999 ). Rodin : The Gates of Hell. Paris : Musée Rodin. ISBN 2 - 901428 - 69 - X. Jump up ^ Fallen Caryatid Carrying Her Stone at the Met ^ Jump up to : `` Rodin 's The Gates of Hell ''. Smarthistory at Khan Academy. Retrieved March 13, 2013. Jump up ^ `` The Gates of Hell, The story of a damned artwork ''. Canal Educatif. Retrieved March 13, 2013. Jump up ^ `` The Gates of Hell ''. Musée Rodin. Retrieved January 27, 2012. Jump up ^ `` The Gates of Hell ''. The National Museum of Western Art. Retrieved January 27, 2012. Further reading Chevillot, Catherine ; Marraud, Hélène ; Pinet, Hélène ; Adamson, John ( transl. ) ( November 2014 ). Rodin : The Laboratory of Creation. Dijon : Éditions Faton. ISBN 9782878442007. Le Normand - Romain, Antoinette ( September 2014 ). Rodin. New York : Abbeville. ISBN 9780789212078. External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to The Gates of Hell. La Porte de l'Enfer, a tool for exploring The Gates of Hell by the Musée Rodin Rodin : The B. Gerald Cantor Collection, a full text exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which contains material on The Gates of Hell Octave Mirbeau, `` Auguste Rodin ''. The Gates of Hell, Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford University, Object Number 1985.86, bronze cast No. 5. Auguste Rodin ( 1840 -- 1917 ) Works The Thinker locations The Kiss The Gates of Hell Adam and Eve Man with the Broken Nose ( 1863 ) Alsatian Orphan ( 1871 ) The Age of Bronze ( 1876 ) The Walking Man ( 1877 - 1878 ) La Defense ( 1879 ) Crouching Woman ( 1880 -- 1882 ) Saint John the Baptist ( 1880 / 1907 ) Ugolino and His Sons ( 1881 ) I am beautiful ( 1882 ) The Falling Man ( 1882 ) Eternal Springtime ( 1884 ) The Burghers of Calais ( 1884 -- 1889 ) Pierre de Wiessant The Prodigal Son ( 1885 ) The Martyr ( 1885 ) Avarice and Lust ( 1885 - 1887 ) Fugitive Love ( 1886 - 1887 ) Head of Saint John the Baptist ( 1887 ) Standing Mercury ( 1888 ) Brother and Sister ( 1890 ) Cybele ( 1890 / 1904 ) Monument to Balzac ( 1892 - 1897 ) Balzac in the Robe of a Dominican Monk ( 1892 ) The Spirit of Eternal Repose ( 1898 -- 1899 ) Standing Faunesse ( 1910 ) Museums Hôtel Biron, Paris Musée Rodin, Paris Rodin Museum, Philadelphia Plateau, Seoul People Camille Claudel In popular culture Camille Claudel ( 1988 film ) Camille Claudel 1915 ( 2013 film ) Rodin ( 2017 film ) Dante 's Divine Comedy Characters Inferno Acheron Alichino Barbariccia Ciampolo Cocytus Dis Ugolino della Gherardesca Malacoda Paolo Malatesta Malebranche Malebolge Minos Odysseus Phlegethon Francesca da Rimini Satan Scarmiglione Styx Virgil Purgatorio Cato the Younger Forese Donati Eunoe Beatrice Portinari Statius Paradiso Adam Thomas Aquinas Bernard of Clairvaux Bonaventure Cacciaguida Charles Martel of Anjou David Justinian I Peter Lombard Piccarda Verses `` Papé Satàn, papé Satàn aleppe '' `` Raphèl mai amècche zabì almi '' Adaptations Classical music Après une Lecture de Dante : Fantasia quasi Sonata ( Liszt, 1849 ) Dante Symphony ( Liszt, 1857 ) Francesca da Rimini ( Tchaikovsky, 1876 ) Francesca da Rimini ( Rachmaninoff, 1904 ) Francesca da Rimini ( Zandonai, 1914 ) Gianni Schicchi ( Puccini, 1918 ) The Divine Comedy ( Smith, 1996 ) Paintings The Barque of Dante ( Delacroix, 1822 ) The Wood of the Self - Murderers : The Harpies and the Suicides ( Blake, 1827 ) Francesca da Rimini and Paolo Malatesta appraised by Dante and Virgil ( Scheffer, 1835 ) Pia de ' Tolomei ( Rossetti, 1868 ) Paolo and Francesca da Rimini ( Rossetti, 1885 ) La barca de Aqueronte ( Hidalgo, 1887 ) La Laguna Estigia ( Hidalgo, 1887 ) Sculptures The Kiss ( Rodin, 1882 ) The Thinker ( Rodin, 1904 ) The Gates of Hell ( Rodin, 1917 ) Architecture Danteum ( Terragni, 1938 ) Modern music Inferno ( 1973 album ) `` Dante 's Inferno '' ( 1995 song ) Dante XXI ( 2006 album ) A Place Where the Sun Is Silent ( 2011 album ) Film L'Inferno ( 1911 ) Dante 's Inferno ( 1924 ) Dante 's Inferno ( 1935 ) The Dante Quartet ( 1987 ) A TV Dante ( 1989 ) Dante 's Inferno ( 2007 ) Dante 's Inferno : An Animated Epic ( 2010 ) Dante 's Inferno Animated ( 2010 ) Literature The Story of Rimini ( 1816 ) La Comédie humaine ( 1830 -- 1850 ) Earth Inferno ( 1905 ) The Cantos ( 1917 -- 1962 ) As I Was Going Down Sackville Street ( 1937 ) The System of Dante 's Hell ( 1965 ) Demon Lord Dante ( 1971 ) Inferno ( 1976 ) The Dante Club ( 2003 ) Jimbo 's Inferno ( 2006 ) Inferno ( 2013 ) Video games Tamashii no Mon ( 1994 ) Devil May Cry series ( 2001 ) Bayonetta ( 2009 ) Dante 's Inferno ( 2010 ) The Lost ( cancelled ) Related Cultural references in Divina Commedia Dante Alighiere and the Divine Comedy in popular culture English translations Divine Comedy Illustrated by Botticelli Botticelli Inferno, 2016 documentary BNF : cb11999335c ( data ) Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Gates_of_Hell&oldid=820803298 '' Categories : Sculptures by Auguste Rodin Gates Collections of the Musée d'Orsay 1917 sculptures Bronze sculptures in France Dante Alighieri Bronze sculptures in Japan Bronze sculptures in the United Kingdom Bronze sculptures in the United States Individual doors Cultural depictions of Adam and Eve Adaptations of works by Dante Alighieri Hidden categories : Articles containing French - language text All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from May 2014 France articles missing geocoordinate data All articles needing coordinates Wikipedia articles with BNF identifiers Talk Contents About Wikipedia Español Euskara فارسی Français Հայերեն Hrvatski Italiano עברית 日本 語 Polski Português Suomi Svenska ไทย Українська Edit links This page was last edited on 16 January 2018, at 18 : 17. 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Question: what is written on the gates of hell
Answer: scene from the Inferno, the first section of Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy