The Sirens

Rodin first exhibited the plaster cast of this magnificent sculpture at the famous exhibition Monet-Rodin, organized in 1889 by the Georges Petit gallery in Paris, which brought these two great geniuses together. “Three intertwined sirens sing; each of a different stature and pose, they form an uneven group, staggered like pan pipes,” critic Gustave Geffroy wrote. Emerging voluptuously from the unfinished block, the bodies and hair of these women — sirens in name only, as Rodin often titled his works after the fact — are interlaced in a Sapphic weave that obsessed the sculptor with its relentless round dance. The popularity of this model proved long-lived: eighteen copies are known, four of which are in marble — the Museum houses the first of these four rare pieces. Under the close supervision of the master, each marble version was carved by a workshop assistant, which explains the minor differences between them.