#sirene

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We’ve looked at Auguste Rodin’s watercolours of sirens, so now it’s time to look at his sculptures of sirens. Like his drawings, many of them are very sexual, and several sculptures have similar themes or are reworked from other pieces.

Sirène-Meditation, Rodin, 1884. Stone. Musée Rodin, Paris.

Our first siren appears to be sleeping, resting her head on her arm. Her two tails curl around her, with hatch marks suggesting fins.

Petite sirène.  Musée Rodin, Paris. Cast in 1969 for the museum’s collection. This bronze is similar to Sirene-Meditation, but her left arm is draped around her head.

Sirène, dite la Toilette de Vénus, Rodin, 1884. Musée Rodin, Paris.

Now, the siren is awake, arching her back in a sensuous pose. Rodin recreated this image with a human woman, titled Réveil.

Siren from the gates of Hell, Musée Rodin. Ca 1885? Lower left door jam.

This figure may not be a siren, as she has also been identified as Eve. However, the swirls near her legs do suggest fish tails or serpentine coils, and her legs aren’t clearly defined.

The Sirens. Purchased by museum in 1900; original casting in 1888. Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest, Hungary (Szépművészeti Múzeum.) My photo.

Adapted from Rodin’s magnum opus, “The Gates of Hell,” into their own sculpture, are three sinuously intertwined sirens, nude and sexual, mouths open in ecstasy.

Oceanides, modeled 1903-1906; cast 1925. Philadelphia Museum of Art. A similar theme to sirens, showing a group of intertwined aquatic women.

The poet and the siren (the wave) 1889, bronze. Auguste Rodin. Burnell Collection, Glasgow.

At first glance, I thought this could be a tragic scene of an artist being overwhelmed, like in “The sculptor and his muse.” (And the muse there was likely modelled after his lover and student, Camille Claudel.) However, after looking carefully at this sculpture, it looks more like the poet is diving into the water with the siren— the figures here aren’t intertwined, only paralleling each other. The siren has wings instead of arms.

Our next two images are of couples, reminiscent of the Kiss or Eternal Spring.

Triton and nereid with a dolphin, 1899. Musée Rodin, Paris. My photo.

Here, the two lovers embrace while on the back of a sea monster.

Triton and siren, before 1902. Rodin. Musée Rodin, Paris.

This sculpture combines a few elements: like in the poet and the muse, a couple is diving into the ocean, and she also has wings for arms. However, the playfulness of the arms suggests they might be flirting (or he might be about to clothesline her. It’s hard to tell.)

Siren, test for the vase, 1888; Saigon Vase, "Limbo and the Sirens.” Manufactured by nationale de Sèvres. ca 1888.

I'm going to wrap this post up by noting that while Rodin's sirens embrace their sexual side, this wasn't true for all his mythical hybrids. Compare the previous women with this sculpture:

Centauress. Modeled c. 1887; cast 1925. Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Rodin described a struggle between humanity’s “two natures. . . . An image of the soul whose ethereal impulses remain miserably imprisoned in the corporeal mire!” And that's what is happening here: the centauress is trying to pull herself away from her lower, beastly half.

Further reading

Elsen, Albert E. The Gates of Hell by Auguste Rodin. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1985.