Danaïd (french version)

Represented by Rodin as a nude young woman kneeling on the floor with her hair hiding her face, Danaïd is one of this artist's most touching subjects. This pose, showing despair and letting go, incitates whoever sees this statue to feel empathy. With this essay including myth analysis, history and aesthetics, Aline Magnien gives us a new interpretation of this marble figure breaking the traditional iconographic aspect. Radiant, Danaïd lives by Gaston Bachelard's word : «La source est une naissance irrésistible, une naissance continue. » (« Source is a birth, an everflowing birth. »)

Author:

Aline Magnien is Heritage Head Curator and has a Ph.d in art history. In charge of Rodin Museum's collections, she has been curator of several exhibitions (Camille Claudel, La Fabrique du portrait, L'Invention de l'½uvre  and, in 2012-2013, Rodin, la chair, le marbre).

Éditions du musée Rodin / Hermann Publishings