The Hand of God

Auguste Rodin French

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 800

Rodin presents the inchoate figures of Adam and Eve cradled in God’s hand. The composition is an homage to his revered "master" Michelangelo, the Renaissance artist whose unfinished figures materializing out of rough stone symbolize the process of artistic creation. In this work, Rodin boldly equates the generative hand of God with the ingenious hand of the sculptor. When the collector B. Gerald Cantor saw The Hand of God at the Met in 1945, it initiated what has been called a "magnificent obsession." Cantor’s support of scholarship and his unparalleled gifts to American and French museums helped to revitalize interest in Rodin in the second half of the twentieth century.

The Hand of God, Auguste Rodin (French, Paris 1840–1917 Meudon), Marble, French

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The Hand of God, Auguste Rodin (French, Paris 1840–1917 Meudon), Marble, French
The Hand of God, Auguste Rodin (French, Paris 1840–1917 Meudon), Marble, French
The Hand of God, Auguste Rodin (French, Paris 1840–1917 Meudon), Marble, French
The Hand of God, Auguste Rodin (French, Paris 1840–1917 Meudon), Marble, French
The Hand of God, Auguste Rodin (French, Paris 1840–1917 Meudon), Marble, French
The Hand of God, Auguste Rodin (French, Paris 1840–1917 Meudon), Marble, French
The Hand of God, Auguste Rodin (French, Paris 1840–1917 Meudon), Marble, French
The Hand of God, Auguste Rodin (French, Paris 1840–1917 Meudon), Marble, French

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