Pygmalion and Galatea

Auguste Rodin

modeled 1889, carved ca. 1908–9 · Marble · European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

According to classical mythology, the sculptor Pygmalion so desired a marble woman he had carved that Venus, the goddess of love, granted her life. Rodin depicts the statue of Galatea quickening at the sculptor’s touch, her glowing body emerging from unfinished stone. Yet this Pygmalion is not the handsome youth of tradition, but rather a stocky, bearded man resembling Rodin, whose name is prominently inscribed next to the mythical sculptor’s on the side of the base. In his quest to endow his figures with living force, Rodin regarded himself as a modern Pygmalion. Pygmalion and Galatea is one of six Rodin marbles that came to The Met in 1910 through Thomas Fortune Ryan.

Artist

Auguste Rodin

Date

modeled 1889, carved ca. 1908–9

Medium

Marble

Culture

French

Department

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

Credit line

Gift of Thomas F. Ryan, in memory of William M. Laffan, 1910