Genius of Eternal Rest, without Head and Arms
Auguste Rodin French
Founder Coubertin Foundry
This mourning genius (or spirit) is a truncated reworking, on a smaller scale, of a full-length figure with a head and arms that was originally intended for Rodin’s funerary monument to the painter Pierre Puvis de Chavannes. Based on an antique model, the sculpture evokes the shared love of classical art at the core of Rodin and Puvis’s friendship and artistic practices. The figure’s unbalanced pose, however—accentuated here by the missing appendages—defies classical ideals even as it recalls them.
This artwork is meant to be viewed from right to left. Scroll left to view more.