Rarely did Rodin exhibit a sculpture so immediately praised as The Danaid. Like Eternal Spring and The Kiss, this form is thoroughly traditional in subject and composition. Executed with great attention to form and to the continuity of unmarred curves, the work has a richness and mastery of finish that made its appeal universal.
Rodin's Danaid is an adaption of the Greek myth of the 50 daughters of King Danaos of Argos. To reconcile with his brother Danaos, Aegyptos, a father of 50 sons, proposed his sons would marry to Danaos's daughters. Although Danaos agreed with the wedding, he instructed the brides to murder their bridegrooms during the wedding night, and all except one stabbed their husbands. As a penalty, the Danaids were forced to fill their jugs with water in the Hades; since these urns were perforated, their efforts were condemned to be in vain.