“Orpheus and Eurydice” by Auguste Rodin
“Orpheus and Eurydice” by Auguste Rodin depicts the ancient Greek legend of Orpheus and Eurydice. Rodin shows Eurydice’s spirit floating in the underworld as Orpheus hesitates and turns to see if his beloved is following. An instant later, Eurydice will vanish as Orpheus broke Hades’s rule, to not look at his wife until they reached the light. This carved sculpture is the only marble example of this Rodin composition.
Orpheus and Eurydice
Orpheus fell in love and married Eurydice, a woman of beauty and grace. Unfortunately, a short time after the marriage, Eurydice was dancing with the Nymphs in the forest, where she was bitten by a snake and died instantly. Orpheus sang his grief with his lyre, and his sorrow and pain deeply touched both humans and gods.
Overcome, Orpheus decided to descend to Hades to see his wife. Orpheus, protected by the gods, went to Hades and played his lyre, melting even Hades’ cold heart. Hades told Orpheus that he could take Eurydice with him but under one condition. Eurydice would follow him while walking out to the light from the underworld caves, but he should not look at her before coming out to the light, or else he would lose her forever.
Orpheus was delighted and started to ascend back into the world. Unable to hear Eurydice’s footsteps, he began to think that he had been tricked. Eurydice was, in fact, behind him. Only a short distance away from the exit, Orpheus lost his faith and turned to see if Eurydice was following. She was behind him; however, she was whisked back to the dead. Eurydice was now trapped in Hades forever. Orpheus tried to return to the Underworld, but a man cannot enter the realm of Hades twice while alive.
Auguste Rodin
Auguste Rodin is generally considered the father of modern sculpture; he possessed a unique ability to model a complex and deeply pocketed surface in clay. Many of his most notable sculptures were criticized during his lifetime. Rodin’s most original work departed from traditional themes of mythology and allegory, he modeled the human body with realism and with personal character and physicality. By 1900, he was a world-renowned artist and remained one of the few sculptors widely known outside the arts community.
Orpheus and Eurydice
- Title: Orpheus and Eurydice
- Artist: Auguste Rodin
- Date: Modelled ca. 1887, carved 1893
- Culture: French, Paris
- Geography: French
- Medium: Marble
- Dimensions: 48 3/4 × 31 1/8 × 25 3/8 in., 856 lb. (123.8 × 79.1 × 64.5 cm, 388.3 kg)
- Museum: Metropolitan Museum of Art – MET
Auguste Rodin
- Name: François-Auguste-René Rodin
- Born: 1840 – Paris, France
- Died: 1917 (aged 77) – Meudon, France
- Nationality: French
- Notable work
- Eternal Springtime (Rodin Museum, Philadelphia)
- Two Hands (Rodin Museum, Philadelphia)
- The Cathedral (Rodin Museum, Philadelphia)
- The Hand of God (Rodin Museum, Philadelphia)
- The Thinker (Rodin Museum, Philadelphia)
- The Gates of Hell (Rodin Museum, Philadelphia)
- “The Gates of Hell” by Auguste Rodin (Kunsthaus Zürich)
- The Hand from the Tomb (Rodin Museum, Philadelphia)
- The Sirens (Rodin Museum, Philadelphia)
- Young Mother in the Grotto (Rodin Museum, Philadelphia)
- Colossal Head of Saint John the Baptist (Rodin Museum, Philadelphia)
- The Secret (Rodin Museum, Philadelphia)
- The Thinker at the Rodin Museum, Philadelphia (Full Size)
- The Thinker at the Rodin Museum, Philadelphia (Medium Size)
- The Thinker ( Cleveland Museum of Art)
- The Thinker (The Legion of Honor)
- The Burghers of Calais (Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden)
- The Burghers of Calais (Rodin Museum, Philadelphia)
- “The Burghers of Calais” by Auguste Rodin (Washington, D.C.)
- “The Burghers of Calais” by Auguste Rodin (Tokyo)
- Balzac (Rodin Museum, Philadelphia)
- Eve (Musée Rodin, Paris)
- Adam (Art Gallery of Western Australia)
- The Kiss (Musée Rodin, Paris)
- Orpheus and Eurydice (Metropolitan Museum of Art – MET)
A Tour of the Metropolitan Museum of Art – MET
MET European Paintings Collection
- “Pygmalion and Galatea” by Jean-Léon
- “Saint Jerome as Scholar” by El Greco
- “Portrait of Juan de Pareja” by Diego Velázquez
- “Camille Monet on a Garden Bench” by Claude Monet
- “View of Toledo” by El Greco
- “The Musicians” by Caravaggio
- “The Death of Socrates” by Jacques-Louis David
- “The Harvesters” by Pieter Bruegel the Elder
- “Young Woman Drawing” by Marie-Denise Villers
- “The Grand Canal, Venice” by J. M. W. Turner
- “The Houses of Parliament (Effect of Fog)” by Claude Monet
- “Madame Cézanne in a Red Dress” by Paul Cézanne
- “The Fortune Teller” by Georges de La Tour
- “The Allegory of Faith” by Johannes Vermeer
- “Garden at Sainte-Adresse” by Claude Monet
- “Wheat Field with Cypresses” by Vincent van Gogh
- “The Repast of the Lion” by Henri Rousseau
- “The Horse Fair” by Rosa Bonheur
- “Two Men Contemplating the Moon” by Caspar David Friedrich
- “Boy with a Greyhound” by Paolo Veronese
- “A Windy Day on the Pont des Arts” by Jean Béraud
- “Sunday at the Church of Saint-Philippe-du-Roule, Paris” by Jean Béraud
- “The Boulevard Montmartre on a Winter Morning” by Camille Pissarro
- “The Sorrow of Telemachus” by Angelica Kauffman
MET Modern and Contemporary Art Collection
- “Reclining Nude” by Amedeo Modigliani
- “Improvisation 27 (Garden of Love II)” by Wassily Kandinsky
- “Jeanne Hébuterne” by Amedeo Modigliani
- “The Card Players” by Paul Cézanne
- “Bathers” by Paul Cézanne
MET Greek and Roman Art Collection
MET Egyptian Art Collection
MET Asian Art Collection
- Luohan – Yixian Glazed Ceramic Sculpture
- Pillow with Landscape Scenes – Zhang Family Workshop
- Jar with Dragon
- Fine Wind, Clear Morning by Katsushika Hokusai
MET Ancient Near Eastern Art Collection
- Sumerian Standing Male Worshiper
- Head of a Beardless Royal Attendant – Eunuch
- Human-Headed Winged Bull (Lamassu)
MET American Wing Collection
- “Washington Crossing the Delaware” by Emanuel Leutze
- “Portrait of Madame X” by John Singer Sargent
- “Mother and Child” by Mary Cassatt
- “Fur Traders Descending the Missouri” by George Caleb Bingham
- “The Gulf Stream” by Winslow Homer
- “The Parthenon” by Frederic Edwin Church
- “The Aegean Sea” by Frederic Edwin Church
- “Alexander Hamilton” by John Trumbull
- “Lady at the Tea Table” by Mary Cassatt
MET Islamic Art Collection
MET Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas Collection
- Benin Ivory Mask
- African Face Mask – Kpeliye’e
- Sican Funerary Mask – Peru
- Ceremonial Axe – Papua New Guinea
MET European Sculpture and Decorative Arts Collection
- “Hercules the Archer” by Antoine Bourdelle
- “Orpheus and Eurydice” by Auguste Rodin
- “Perseus with the Head of Medusa” by Antonio Canova
- “The Little Fourteen-Year-Old Dancer” by Edgar Degas
MET Medieval Art Collection
- “The Last Supper” by Ugolino di Nerio
- Plaque with the Journey to Emmaus and Noli Me Tangere
- Doorway from the Church of San Nicolò, San Gemini
MET Drawings and Prints Collection
- Album of Tournaments and Parades in Nuremberg
- “Canvassing for Votes” by William Hogarth
- “Christ and the Woman of Samaria” by Rembrandt
- Fine Wind, Clear Morning by Katsushika Hokusai
MET Costume Institute Collection
MET Arms and Armor Collection
MET Photograph Collection
MET Musical Instrument Collection
Explore
- Masterpieces of The Metropolitan Museum of Art – MET
- The MET Cloisters
- Met Breuer
- Metropolitan Museum of Art – MET
Reflections
- What is the moral of the Orpheus and Eurydice story?
- Rodin often left parts of his sculptures with an unfinished surface. What is its effect on viewers?
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“I choose a block of marble and chop off whatever I don’t need.”
– Auguste Rodin
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Photo Credit: 1) JOM