Musée Rodin
Description
The Musée Rodin is a museum in Paris featuring the sculptor Auguste Rodin's greatest works. There are two parts to the museum, a large mansion which holds many smaller and more delicate pieces, and the outer gardens dotted with bronze sculptures among carefully groomed gardens and fountains. Both can be viewed seperately. The mansion was built in the 1700's and turned into a museum in 1919. The museum is not overwhelmingly large (like the enourmous and famous Louvre), instead it can be comfortably covered in one afternoon.
Famous Works
The Museum is home to many famous sculptures such as The Thinker, The Burghers of Calais, The Kiss, and a culminary piece, The Gates of Hell. Although the Gates of Hell is probably the most intricate work as well as the culminary achievement of Rodin, however he never saw it finished. The Thinker is a world renowned scultpure featuring a seated man pensively resting his jaw on his fist.
Website
Here is an exerpt describing the gardens from the official Musee Rodin website (www.musee-rodin.fr) which was unavailable at the time this was written.
"The garden of the Hôtel Biron is spread over an area of three hectares. It is divided into a rose garden, to the north, and a vast parterre in the south which was newly laid out in 1993. Several plans were envisaged at the time: restituting the embroidery motifs which decorated it in the middle of the 18th century, or recreating the wild area that Rodin knew, invaded by brambles and wild apple trees under which rabbits ran "like in medieval tapestries" (Rilke). But it was finally the proposal submitted by the landscape architect, Jacques Sgard, which won the day. While respecting the ornamental pool, the lawn and the rows of linden trees, the objective of this project was to bring back to life the naturalist theme so popular in the 18th century.
A large number of sculptures are presented in this renovated setting. While Adam, Eve, Meditation and the Spirit of Eternal Rest surround the pool in peaceful harmony, the number of bronzes has multiplied to include Orpheus, the Whistler Muse, Bastien Lepage, The Three Shades, two Caryatids, the major studies for The Burghers of Calais, gradually occupying all the available space. The garden has also been used for exhibitions of modern sculpture, in particular the Tribute to Linden Trees and to Rodin by François Morellet."
Address & Phone
77, rue de Varenne , 75007 Paris
44 18 61 10 - Groups: 44 18 61 84