These identical male figures - known as shades, or ghosts from the underworld - are closely related to Rodin's figure of the biblical Adam (also on view in this garden). However, rather than awakening to life as Adam does, the shades embody death, sleep and a loss of consciousness.
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Rodin first placed this arrangement of shades atop "The Gates of Hell" (on display at the entrance of the museum building) to draw attention to the scenes of damnation unfolding below. Years later he enlarged the composition, titled it "The Three Shades," and exhibited it as the independent figure group you see here.
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