Updated 15 May 2025
On Display Permanent collection
Fugit Amor (Fugitive Love)
| Date | Before 1887 |
|---|---|
| Materials and Techniques | bronze |
| Size（cm） | 36 x 45 x 20 |
| Inscriptions | Signed back of base: A. Rodin; foundry mark front of base: Alexis. Rudier / Fondeur. PARIS |
| Credit Line | Matsukata Collection |
| Standard ref. | M1270 |
| Category | Sculptures |
| Collection Number | S.1959-0022 |
"Fugit amor" is the Latin for fugitive or transient love. The young woman has both hands raised against her head. The man is facing upward in an awkward position as if about to slide off the woman's back and is desperately draining his arms around the woman's breast. Together they symbolize love that disappears in vain, a sound love that is yearned after and yet eternally unattainable, and the absolute truth or beauty that can never be obtained. This couple is identifiable in two sections of the right door of "The Gates of Hell". (Source: The Digital Gallery. 1999-2006)
Provenance
Bought from Musée Rodin by Kojiro Matsukata, Kobe through Léonce Bénédite, ca. April 1919, as ‘Fugit Amor’ (Fr. 15,000) [see several letters between Bénédite and Suzuki & Co., April 1919, in Archives of Musée Rodin, Paris; copy in NMWA curatorial files]; sequestered by French government, 1944; vested in French government under San Francisco Peace Treaty, 1952; transferred from French to Japanese government, 23 January 1959; entered into NMWA, April 1959.
Exhibition History
- 1966
- Rodin, National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 23 July 1966 - 11 September 1966, cat. no. 30
- 1989
- Rodin et la Porte de l’Enfer (Rodin and the Gates of Hell), National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 21 October 1989 - 17 December 1989, cat. no. 53
- 2015
- Japan's Love for Impressionism: From Monet to Renoir, Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn, 8 October 2015 - 21 February 2016, cat. no. 93, col. repr.
- 2017
- [Traveling Exhibitions Presenting National Art Museum Collections, Fiscal 2017] Muse: Women before the Artists' Eyes: From the Collection of the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, Fukushima Prefectural Museum of Art, 22 April 2017 - 2 July 2017, Akita Museum of Modern Art, 15 July-18 September, cat. no. 69
- 2017
- [Prints and Drawings Exhibition] Getting to the Gates of Hell: Rodin's Album Fenaille Drawings for Dante's Divine Comedy, The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, Prints and Drawings Gallery, 21 October 2017 - 28 January 2018, cat. no. 131
- 2021
- National Touring Exhibition of Western Art from the NMWA: When Here and Afar Meet: Western Art in Yamagata / Western Art in Takaoka, Yamagata Museum of Art, 17 July 2021 - 27 August 2021, Takaoka Art Museum, 10 September-24 October 2021, cat. no. Y1_32 | T3_36
- 2022
- Renoir—Monet—Gauguin: Images of a Floating World: the Collections of Kōjirō Matsukata and Karl Ernst Osthaus, Museum Folkwang, 6 February 2022 - 15 May 2022
Bibliography
- 1990
- The Old Matsukata Collection. Kobe City Museum, ed. Kobe, "Matsukata Korekushon Ten" Jikkoiinkai, 1990, cat. no. S-36.
- 2015
- Japan's Love for Impressionism: From Monet to Renoir (exh. cat.). Marks-Hanssen, Beate, ed. Bonn, Bundeskunsthalle, 2015, pp. 162, 246, cat. no. 93, col. repr.
- 2017
- Muse: Women before the Artists' Eyes: from the Collection of the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo: Traveling Exhibitions Presenting National Art Museum Collections, Fiscal 2017 (exh. cat.). Nakada, Asuka, ed. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 2017, pp. 97, 141, cat. no. 69, col. repr.
- 2019
- The Matsukata Collection: Complete Catalogue of the European Art. Kawaguchi, Masako; Jingaoka, Megumi, eds. vol. 2: Sculpture, Drawings, Prints and Decorative Arts and Other Works, Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 2019, cat. no. 1270, col. repr.
- 2021
- When Here and Afar Meet: Western Art in Yamagata/Western Art in Takaoka (exh. cat.). Shinfuji, Atsushi, ed. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 2021, pp. 42, 175, cat. no. Y1_32 | T3_36, col. repr.
- 2022
- Renoir—Monet—Gauguin: Images of a Floating World: the Collections of Kōjirō Matsukata and Karl Ernst Osthaus (exh.cat.). Engel, Nadine; Herlemann, Rebecca, eds. Berlin, Hatje Cantz, [2022], pp. 236, 368, col. repr.