Squatting woman

We continue our special month with the Kröller-Müller Museum's The beginning of a new world exhibition, which is on view until 29 September 2019. Enjoy!  : )

In 1880, the still relatively unknown artist Auguste Rodin received the prestigious commission to create two monumental doors for the proposed Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. He derived the theme of Inferno (Hell) from the Divine Comedy, in which Dante recounts his journey from Hell, through Purgatory, to Paradise.

For the Gates of Hell, Rodin designed an overcrowded relief with over 180 bodies in the most distraught poses. The museum, however, was never built and he decided to produce several figures from his relief as independent sculptures, including this Squatting woman. The unnatural and cramped posture and the face of the woman express powerful feelings of pain, fear, and despair.

With his study of the human figure, Rodin distanced himself from academic sculpture, which focused primarily on religious, mythological, or historical subjects. In his sculptures he expresses human motivations, such as emotion, passion, and eroticism. Furthermore, for him the skin of the human body and the muscles are important means of expression, as are the effects of light and shadow.

P.S. Read more about the exhibition here!