Monument to Victor Hugo Large model incomplete, 1897, definitive model completed shortly after 1900, Musée Rodin cast 1/8 in 1996 Bronze 72 ¾ x 112 1/8 x 63 ¾ in. Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation The original commission for a monument to Victor Hugo was awarded to Rodin in 1889 by the French government as part of a new program of sculpture for the Pantheon in Paris. The monument depicts a heroic, draped, nude Victor Hugo sitting on a rocky island symbolic of Guernsey, one of the two islands where he spent his years in exile. He is seated in contemplation with two allegorical figures. His arm is outstretched as if to quiet the crashing sea, as the Tragic Muse appears to whisper into his ear. Although Rodin worked on the project intensely, his monument for the Pantheon was never realized.