“Eternal Springtime” by Auguste Rodin

“Eternal Springtime” by Auguste Rodin

“Eternal Springtime” by Auguste Rodin was modelled in clay during the same period as “The Kiss” in 1884. This sculpture depicts a pair of lovers caught in a floating embrace. Their outstretched and graceful limbs are in sharp contrast to the compact, inward-focused sculpture of “The Kiss”.

This sculpture has an air of weightless and floating quality which makes it a perfect ode to springtime love. Rodin created Eternal Springtime at a time when he was in a romantic relationship with Camille Claudel. It is claimed that traces of Camille can be discerned in the women of this masterpiece and other female figures prominent in the works Rodin created in the mid-1880s. This work was reproduced several times in bronze and marble.

Reflections

• Which Rodin sculpture do you prefer Eternal Springtime or the Kiss?
• Does this preference between Eternal Springtime or the Kiss vary by age or current relationship

Eternal Springtime

• Title:                      Eternal Springtime
• Year:                      Modelled in clay 1884; cast in bronze 1898 – 1918
• Place of Origin:   France
• Material:              Bronze
• Museum:              Rodin Museum, Philadelphia

Auguste Rodin

• Name:               François-Auguste-René Rodin
• Born:                1840 – Paris, France
• Died:                 1917 (aged 77) – Meudon, France
• Nationality:     French
• Notable works:
  • Eternal Springtime
  • Two Hands
  • The Cathedral
  • The Hand of God
  • The Thinker
  • The Gates of Hell
  • The Hand from the Tomb
  • The Sirens
  • Young Mother in the Grotto
  • Colossal Head of Saint John the Baptist
  • The Secret
  • “The Thinker” at the Rodin Museum, Philadelphia (Full Size)
  • “The Burghers of Calais” by Auguste Rodin

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“I invent nothing, I rediscover.” 
– Auguste Rodin

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Photo Credit: GM