As in the case of many of Rodin's most expressive figure groupings, Je suis belle is a composite of subjects which Rodin had already executed for The Gates of Hell. The male figure is derived from The Falling Man on the lintel above the left panel, and the female is based on The Crouching Woman who appears to the left of The Thinker (the latter was also the source of the well-known Head of Lust). The group itself is repeated in low relief at the top of the right pilaster.

One of Rodin's most daring and violent subjects, this sculpture was originally called The Rape, and was known by that title as late as 1900, when it was exhibited at the Exposition Rodin. It was also known as The Kiss, until that title was taken over by the famous sculpture which bears that name today.

Its definitive title, however, Je suis belle, is taken from the poem La Beauté by Baudelaire, the first verse of which is inscribed on the base.

I am beautiful, O mortal ones,
like a dream of stone, and my breast,
upon which each of you is wounded in turn,
is fated to inspire a love in the poet,
as mute as matter itself.

Rodin may have seen in these lines the process by which the sculptor, like the mythical Pygmalion, forges from the insentient stillness of his materials a creation infused with inner life, which expresses the pain of human love and existence. This verse may have constituted an artistic credo for Rodin, and their significance to him is underlined by the fact that he also inscribed them on the marble version of The Kiss.