Left Unfinished Because His Model Was Pregnant: Eve

This sculpture is Eve, the first woman from the Bible. When designing The Gates of Hell, Rodin created two figures to flank the doors — one was Adam, and the other is this Eve.

In the sculpture, Eve covers her chest with both hands and bows her head, a posture meant to capture the moment she realizes she's naked after eating the forbidden fruit, and feels shame for the first time. Rodin drew this pose from Michelangelo's depiction of Eve on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

There's an interesting story behind this piece. While Rodin was working on it, he discovered that the young woman modeling for him was pregnant. Work on the sculpture stopped, and it sat unfinished for quite some time before eventually being cast exactly as it was, with no further changes. That's likely why the skin has a somewhat rough texture and the finer details feel less resolved than usual. Even so, Rodin was confident enough that it stood on its own as a complete work, and he went ahead and unveiled it as it was.