RODIN'S THE HAND OF GOD, THE MET, NEW YORK

Sometimes I don't like to say too much about art as I think every person should see what they want in a work and interpret it in their own way. We create relationships with art pieces and nobody can tell you what your relationship will be. This work is certainly an allegory. For me, personally, it is very simple, but very powerful: that the fate of all lovers rest in the hands of 'God', or as we interpret God in our minds 'fate', 'Gods', 'the universe' (the hand of God can exist as any of those dimensions as I see it). Walking around this piece you are indeed taken through an entire universe in 360 degrees. Only the best sculptors can do that.

Artist: Auguste Rodin (French, Paris 1840–1917 Meudon)

Date: modeled ca. 1896–1902, commissioned 1906, carved ca. 1907

Dimensions: confirmed: 29 × 23 3/4 × 25 1/4 in., 508 lb. (73.7 × 60.3 × 64.1 cm, 230.4 kg)

Credit Line: Gift of Edward D. Adams, 1908