Auguste Rodin was a successful and prolific sculptor. While many of his pieces came under fire at various times for being either too perfect or not having a specific subject matter, he still was successful enough to have his own museum. At the Musée Rodin in Paris, Rodin was able to show off many of his sculptures, in addition to art that he had collected from his friends. Artists like Van Gogh, Monet, Renoir, and Courbet graced the walls of the palatial, estate-like building. But some of his sculptures were never finished, and not suitable for exhibition. One of the projects Rodin had exceptional difficulty with was his allusion to Dante's Inferno called The Gates of Hell.

Dante's Inferno is a meandering epic poem. It was written in the fourteenth century by the Italian poet Dante Aligheri. The Inferno, or Hell, is depicted as an utterly miserable and depraved place. Several levels relegate mortal sinners to eternal punishment and damnation. One level submerges people up to their necks in ice. Another level traps heretics in flaming tombs. People deemed "violent" drown eternally in a river of boiling blood. The poet witnesses all of these atrocities on his quest to find paradise. It is no wonder that Auguste Rodin was inspired by Dante's inferno. The high levels of violence, despair, and general excitement are subjects that any artist would love to convey. But for Rodin, the process of sculpting his piece was arduous.

In 1880, the Paris Directorate of Fine Arts commissioned a sculpture for their museum. The museum was lacking in a decorative doorway. Rodin decided to come up with something grand and eye-catching for the museum entrance. He slaved for many months, sketching, rearranging, and throwing out his plans, until he came up with the subject of the sculpture: the Gates of Hell, as conveyed by Dante. It seemed a bit peculiar that the entrance to a museum be the entrance to a place of eternal suffering, but the sheer magnitude of the piece eclipsed the Directorate's concerns. The piece was to be six meters high - over eighteen feet!

Unfortunately, due to a lack of investors and financial backing, the Paris Directorate was unable to open a museum. Thus, Rodin was left with a massive composition, and had nowhere to put it. Rodin worked on the sculpture for 37 years, and did not stop until he died. The Gates of Hell contains some of Rodin's best work. The Thinker, supposedly based on Dante himself, is located above the two main doors. The Kiss, another large piece, is on the left door panel. It depicts the torrid love affair between Lancelot and Guinevere. Other subjects in the sculpture include the three Fates of Greek mythology, Adam and Eve, and other biblical and mythological characters.

Though this piece was never fully completed, what stands is still an impressive technical feat. The sheer scale of The Gates of Hell is awe-inspiring. Various casts of the piece are located in museums worldwide, and Rodin's legacy is perpetuated.