Rodin in the Hirshhorn Sculpture Garden

The Hirshhorn Museum features an outdoor sculpture garden which includes a nineteenth century group of figures, The Burghers of Calais, by Auguste Rodin. The sculptor reminds the viewer of the anguish experienced by a group of men in the French city of Calais during the medieval Hundred Years War that occurred between France and England.  In 1347, six burghers of Calais were to be executed as they handed over the city keys to the English King Edward III. The emotions conveyed by these heroic figures are apparent in their faces and gestures. This bronze casting was completed in 1959, even though Rodin created this group in the late nineteenth century. 

Auguste Rodin, The Burghers of Calais.

Auguste Rodin, The Burghers of Calais.

Auguste Rodin, The Burghers of Calais.

Rodin’s highly expressive approach to sculpture is also evident in his Monument to Balzac.  The French novelist of the post-Napoleonic period is represented in a long robe which establishes solidity of form, and provides a megalithic stature.  Rodin’s bronze sculpture is reminiscent of a menhir or one of the alignment stones in Brittany. 
The bronze casting of Balzac was completed in 1966.  Of course, additional castings of both Balzac and the Burghers are also in the permanent collection of the Rodin Museum in Paris. Two of Auguste Rodin’s most well-known sculptures are The Thinker and The Kiss.

Auguste Rodin. Monument to Balzac.

Auguste Rodin. Monument to Balzac.