Eve (Rodin)
Eve is a nude sculpture by the French artist Auguste Rodin. It shows Eve despairing after the Fall. In 1880 Rodin was commissioned to produce "The Gates of Hell", for which he exhibited "Adam" at the 1881 Paris Salon. In a sketch for "Gates" Rodin showed a central silhouette possibly intended as Eve (both the sketch and "Gates" are now in the Musée Rodin), but in October 1881 he decided to produce "Eve" as a pair for "Adam", with the two sculptures flanking a huge high-relief bas-relief. This would be the first free-standing female sculpture  he had produced since the destruction of his "Bacchante" in an accident between 1864 and 1870. He began "Eve" in 1881, later abandoning his intended colossal version of it when he realised his model, probably Adèle Abruzzesi, was pregnant. It was first exhibited to the public at the 1899 Paris Salon. It shows a strong influence from Michelangelo, picked up by Rodin in Italy in 1876. He also produced an autograph white marble version in 1884 (now in the Museo Soumaya in Mexico City), a version in patinated plaster and a much-reproduced 71 cm high bronze version in 1883  (known as the "Petite Ève" or "Little Eve", whose original is also in the Musée Rodin in Paris). He also reused the same figure of Eve in his marble "Eve and the Serpent" (1901) and his plaster "Adam and Eve" (1884).