Dina in the King's Garden

The sculptor Aristide Maillol was born in the South of France, a man of the Mediterranean, which is itself associated with classical and ancient civilization. He studiously turned his back on the turmoil of our age, reasoning that an attempt to reinterpret the old myths in a twentieth-century manner was perhaps the best way of coming to terms with his own times. As his theme he chose opulent earth goddesses, rich luxuriant mother figures, nubile country girls. He modeled these women in lifelong variations on the theme of natural bounty. One of his most famous models was Dina, and now a great number of bronze statues of Dina are to be seen in the Tuileries gardens of the Louvre, the former royal palace in Paris. Nothing more romantic and poetic can be imagined than these great bronze women of the South, redolent with heat and lazy passion, in the snow-chilled gardens of the North. There is no narration.