Despair, Known as Despair from the Gates (Le Désespoir dit de la Porte)
Brooklyn Museum photograph
Object Label
This small female figure pulling one foot up to meet her bowed head appears three times in the right panel of The Gates of Hell. Her acrobatic pose reflects Rodin’s interest in dance, as well as his desire to capture expressive postures not typically seen in academic sculpture.
Caption
Auguste Rodin French, 1840–1917. Despair, Known as Despair from the Gates (Le Désespoir dit de la Porte), 1880–1889, cast 1959. Bronze, 7 1/4 × 3 1/2 × 3 3/4 in., 2 lb. (18.4 × 8.9 × 9.5 cm, 0.91kg). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation, 84.75.2. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 84.75.2_PS2.jpg)
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Artist
Title
Despair, Known as Despair from the Gates (Le Désespoir dit de la Porte)
Date
1880–1889, cast 1959
Geography
Place made: France
Medium
Bronze
Classification
Dimensions
7 1/4 × 3 1/2 × 3 3/4 in., 2 lb. (18.4 × 8.9 × 9.5 cm, 0.91kg)
Signatures
Proper left, bottom: "A. Rodin" Interior, stamped in raised letters: "A. Rodin"
Markings
Back, proper right, bottom: "Georges Rudier/Fondeur. Paris" Back, bottom: "© by Musée Rodin 1959"
Credit Line
Gift of the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation
Accession Number
84.75.2
Rights
Creative Commons-BY
You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.
Frequent Art Questions
Can you tell me more about Rodin's fascination with dance as it relates to this piece?
Rodin was very interested in the professionally trained body and he often hired athletes and dancers to walk around his studio.When one of them struck a pose that he liked, he would have them hold it, while he quickly made a clay model. His study of the body in motion informed his art practice and contributed to his recognition as one of the greatest sculptors of the human form.Rodin loved any dance that wasn't ballet! He enjoyed the dancehall can-can, and was fascinated by an emerging generation of dance radicals, such as Isadora Duncan and Vaslav Nijinsky, who had rejected the traditional, academic style of ballet in favor of a more expressive language of dance.Rodin used his significant influence (he was very well connected) to champion the careers of these dancers.Although Rodin sculpted many works, the best example in this exhibit is the small figure of "Despair" that you took a photo of.
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