The Sirens (1889): Art, History and Details

The Sirens (1889) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Auguste Rodin (French, 1840–1917).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Rodin intended The Gates of Hell (based on Dante’s The Divine Comedy) to be the great work of his life. It was never executed as originally planned, but Rodin created a number of sculptures for the project that were later treated separately. Among them was this group of three nude women entitled The Sirens.

Object facts

• Title: The Sirens
• Date: 1889
• Creator attribution: Auguste Rodin (French, 1840–1917)
• Culture: France, late 19th-early 20th century
• Type: Sculpture
• Technique: bronze
• Dimensions: Overall: 43.2 x 41.6 x 30.5 cm (17 x 16 3/8 x 12 in.)
• Collection: Mod Euro - Sculpture 1800-1960
• Department: Modern European Painting and Sculpture
• Accession number: 1946.350

Collection credit

In memory of Ralph King, gift of Mrs. Ralph King; Ralph T. Woods, Charles G. King; and Frances King Schafer

Further reading listed by the museum

• Milliken, William. "Sculpture." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 34, no. 2 (February 1947): 25-26.
• Tacha, Athena. Rodin Sculpture in the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1967.
• Tacha, Athena. A Supplement to Rodin Sculpture in the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1974.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.