This statue is depicting the physical weariness of one of the daughters of the mythological King Danao, Danaïde, reclining nude on a rock. Danaïde's myth tells the story of fifty sisters who kill their husbands (sons of Aegyptus) on their wedding night at the command of their father. As a punishment, the sisters had to live in the underworld and they should carry jogs of water to fill a basin that could never be filled.
Auguste Rodin was a French sculptor who exhibited a unique talent to capture the extreme depths of human emotion. Although he didn't study at the prestigious École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, he found inspiration in sculptural traditions.
A majority of his criticism was due to his departure from highly decorative and thematic traditions. He preferred forms that were true to nature and took Michelangelo and Da Vinci as prime influences. Despite the controversy that surrounded his art, he refused to change his style, sticking to his vision until the end of his days.
His most famous piece of Art, The Thinker, was originally part of a larger vision. Along with The Kiss and Gates of Hell, Rodin tried to encapsulate Dante’s Inferno in bronze.
Eventually, the sculptor earned fame thanks to his unexpected realism and use of unconventional materials. Throughout his later life, he remains one of the greatest artists of his era.
