.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Auguste Rodin propose ici son interprétation de la sensualité et de l’érotisme du personnage mythologique d’Ariane endormie. Ce sujet, tourné à la verticale, fut ensuite intégré par l’artiste au tympan de sa Porte de l’enfer, vers 1887. Dans la mythologie grecque,
Ariane est présentée comme la fille du roi de Crète Minos et de la reine Pasiphaé, fille d’Hélios. Son destin est étroitement lié à celui du Minotaure et de Thésée. Aidant ce dernier, après avoir vaincu le Minotaure, à fuir le labyrinthe où l’avait enfermé Minos, elle épousera ensuite, selon certaines versions du mythe, le dieu Dionysos. Accostant sur l’île de Naxos, celui-ci la vit pour la
première fois endormie sur la plage. C’est cet épisode qui est ici évoqué par Rodin. Auguste Rodin clearly perceived the eroticism of
the sleeping Ariane, and transposed this sensuality into his own interpretation of the subject. It was this work that Rodin turned vertically and incorporated into the tympanum of the Gates of Hell circa 1887. In Greek mythology, Ariane was the daughter of Minos, King of Crete, and his queen Pasiphae, daughter of Helios. She is typically associated with mazes and labyrinths, due to her involvement in the myths of the Minotaur and Theseus. Her father put her in charge of the labyrinth where sacrifices were made as part of reparations (either to Poseidon or to Athena, depending on the version of the myth); however, she would later help Theseus in
overcoming the Minotaur and saving the would-be sacrificial victims. In other stories, she became the bride of the god Dionysus, who had first discovered her during her sleep on the island of Naxos.
Ariane est présentée comme la fille du roi de Crète Minos et de la reine Pasiphaé, fille d’Hélios. Son destin est étroitement lié à celui du Minotaure et de Thésée. Aidant ce dernier, après avoir vaincu le Minotaure, à fuir le labyrinthe où l’avait enfermé Minos, elle épousera ensuite, selon certaines versions du mythe, le dieu Dionysos. Accostant sur l’île de Naxos, celui-ci la vit pour la
première fois endormie sur la plage. C’est cet épisode qui est ici évoqué par Rodin. Auguste Rodin clearly perceived the eroticism of
the sleeping Ariane, and transposed this sensuality into his own interpretation of the subject. It was this work that Rodin turned vertically and incorporated into the tympanum of the Gates of Hell circa 1887. In Greek mythology, Ariane was the daughter of Minos, King of Crete, and his queen Pasiphae, daughter of Helios. She is typically associated with mazes and labyrinths, due to her involvement in the myths of the Minotaur and Theseus. Her father put her in charge of the labyrinth where sacrifices were made as part of reparations (either to Poseidon or to Athena, depending on the version of the myth); however, she would later help Theseus in
overcoming the Minotaur and saving the would-be sacrificial victims. In other stories, she became the bride of the god Dionysus, who had first discovered her during her sleep on the island of Naxos.