Explore the History of this artwork.
As Rodin's fame grew during the 1880s, the demand for his work increased, so many of his works, which were originally created in a smaller format, began to come out of his studio, which had already grown considerably. Some of these pieces were finished compositions, based on the coupling of figures originally conceived individually; this work is an example of such a composition.This sculpture has had different names: Idylle (Idyll), Le Printemps (Spring), Le Printemps de la vie (The Spring of Life) and Les Océanides (The Oceánides). It represents the legend of Adonis, showing Aphrodite kissing the lips of the dying youth. The piece was placed in The Gates of Hell and is located on the top, on one of the four corbels, just below The Three Shadows. The pain experienced by the mother of Cupid has its origin in the repentance of the sculptural group in the lower right corner of the portico. In this marble, the finished bodies lie in opposition to the tree with a rough surface. From this moment the artist sought perfection through works that seem unfinished, where the fragment evokes the whole.
The group of characters that make up the work was represented for the first time in the form of a drawing, in the margin of the poem "Poison" of the poet Charles Baudelaire, in the edition of the Flowers of Evil illustrated for the Editorial Gallimard. In the marble of this sculpture these verses appear: Opium increases that which has no limits / [...], delves [...], excavates pleasure and pleasures / blacks and melancholy. / And it fills the soul even more than it fits in it./ It is not worth the poison that your eyes distill / [...] lakes where my soul trembles and looks inverted / and my dreams flow / to be satiated in those bitter vortices.
Opium Flowers of Evil Baudelaire Aphrodite The Gates of Hell Cupid Charles Baudelaire corbel Adonis