Head of Sorrow

Auguste Rodin French
 Cast by Georges Rudier French

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 800

This androgynous head expresses in equal parts yearning, disturbance, vulnerability, and pain. Its ambiguity allowed Rodin to merge the head with different bodies to produce male and female figures. In smaller scale and combined with other elements, Head of Sorrow appears four times in The Gates of Hell. Rodin may have felt that its repetition infused the doors with a sense of coherence or collective grief.

Head of Sorrow, Auguste Rodin (French, Paris 1840–1917 Meudon), Bronze, black marble base, French

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Head of Sorrow, Auguste Rodin (French, Paris 1840–1917 Meudon), Bronze, black marble base, French
Head of Sorrow, Auguste Rodin (French, Paris 1840–1917 Meudon), Bronze, black marble base, French

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