La Porte de l'Enfer (translated The Gates of Hell) is a monumental sculptural group work by French artist Auguste Rodin that depicts a scene from "The Inferno", the first section of The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri. It stands at 6 m high, 4 m wide and 1 m deep (19.69'H × 13.12'W × 3.29'D) and contains 180 figures. The figures range from 15 cm high up to more than one metre. Several of the figures were also cast independently by Rodin.
The sculptural ensemble was commissioned by the Directorate of Fine Arts in 1880 and was meant to be delivered in 1885.Rodin would continue to work on and off on this project for 37 years, until his death in 1917.
The Directorate asked for an inviting entrance to a planned Decorative Arts Museum with the theme being left to Rodin's selection. Even before this commission, Rodin had developed sketches of some of Dante's characters based on his admiration of Dante's Inferno.
The Decoratives Arts Museum was never built. Rodin worked on this project...
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