This is “La Danaïde,” my favorite sculpture from the Musée Rodin. It was inspired by the Greek myth of the Danaids, the 50 daughters of Danaus who were forced to marry the 50 sons of Aegyptus in order to remain safe as refugees in Argos. Danaus secretly ordered them to kill their husbands on their wedding night, and 49 of them did — but one, Hypermnestra, couldn’t bring herself to kill her husband because he respected her wish to remain a virgin. Her 49 sisters were punished in Hades by having to forever carry water back and forth in leaky amphoras.
Rodin’s sculpture of Hypermnestra is amazing. She looks so fragile. You can feel this character’s sorrow and desperation. Something about her cascading hair, exposed neck, and pronounced shoulderblades is so beautiful to me.
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I really enjoyed the Musee Rodin. La Porte de L’Enfer was rather incredible; I like how it’s in such contrast with the work above.
May 5, 2009 @ 4:21 pm
I love that you give background to the art, otherwise I would be scurrying to wikipedia it
May 8, 2009 @ 9:46 pm
That’s the myth that Big Love (the play I td’d last semester, I think you saw it) is a spin off of.
May 9, 2009 @ 7:22 am
Sara — yeah, once Deven explained the myth to me, I totally remembered it. Thankfully the museum didn’t have any 1000 decibel breaking-glass sound effects though.
May 10, 2009 @ 10:56 pm
In defense of my honor: I was not responsible for any Big Love sound effects.
May 13, 2009 @ 7:41 pm