This hugely successful work, cast some ten times in marble and and in several bronze editions, was created during the same lengthy period in which The Gates of Hell was being created. In the end, probably due to its theme – the expression of ardent love – the group never featured in Rodin’s ambitious project, which was distinctly tragic in nature.

The suggestion of fiery passion is constructed through the complex play of convex and concave curves on the reclined and intertwining bodies, in which the elegant movement of the female figure twisting downwards yields to the overpowering gesture of the male figure.

The group, which became an artwork in its own right from 1886, was initially entitled Zephyr and Earth and was also exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1897 with the title Cupid and Psyche, a detail evoked by the small wings on the back of the male figure. In 1900 the work was finally presented in marble and plaster with the title by which it is known today.

The moulding of the base of the bronze corresponds to an existing plaster in the Rodin Museum and indicates a version made prior to 1900.