Man hat nur zu recht, wen man sagt, daß es nichts Schöneres gebe als eine Fregatte unter Segeln, ein Pferd im Galopp und eine tanzende Frau.

wallyg posted a photo:

Le Monument à Balzac (The Monument to Balzac) by Auguste Rodin was commissioned by the Société des Gens de Lettres, under the impetus of its president, Emile Zola. The original commission to honor one of France's greatest novelists, Honoré de Balzac (1799–1850) went to sculptor Henri Chapu, but after he died in 1891, Rodin agreed to deliver the 3-meter tall bronze sculpture within 18 months, which was to be placed at the Palais-Royal.

Rodin immersed himself in the piece. Since Balzac had been dead for forty years, he faced the challenge of having to render his likeness from photographs. He extensively researched the writer's life and works, made several trips to Balzac's home region of Tourraine, posed models who resembled him, and even went as far as to order suit from Balzac's tailor to visualize his size and girth. Over the course of the next seven years, Roding completed over fifty prepatory studies. Some showed Balzac paunchy, others atheltic. Some were nudes, and others in his preferred work clothes, the Dominican cowl. In 1894, the Société threatend to dissolve the contract and pass the commission onto Alexandre Falguière. Roding responded with a promise to speed up the work.

Rodin finally settled on an athletic figure, leaning slightly backwards. He ordered six plaster casts to be made and had them covered in an empty-sleeved coat. When finally exhibited at the 1898 Salon, it was widely attacked. Critics dismissed it as a crude sketch, associating the figure with everything from an erected phallus to a sack of coal to a snowman, and interpreting him masturbating under his protecting coat. The Société des Gens de Lettres, now presided by Henry Houssaye, rejected piece and the payment it owed him. Rodin's admirers, who mainly supported the politically volatile imprisoned Jewish officer Dreyfus, tried to collect enough to purchase the monument for public display but instead retired it to his studio at Meudon, refusing to allow it to be cast during his lifetime. In 1939, 22 years after Rodin's death, Balzac was finally cast in bronze and placed at the crossing of the boulevards Montparnasse and Raspail.

This casting, number six in an edition of twelve, standing 106" x 48 1/4" x 41" was executed in 1965-66 and acquired by gift of Joseph H. Hirshorn in 1966.

The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, with an emphasis on contemporary and modern art, was established by Act of Congress in 1966. Gordon Bunshaft's museum and 4-acre garden complex with a two-level sculpture garden opened along the National Mall in 1974.

The Smithsonian Institution, an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its shops and its magazines, was established in 1846. Although concentrated in Washington DC, its collection of over 136 million items is spread through 19 museums, a zoo, and nine research centers from New York to Panama.