By Kristian Rusten, to Museum Spotlight Europe (November, 2019)
The Musée Rodin in Paris is one of the city’s lesser-visited museums. It doesn’t get the attention of the big one, the Louvre, where people go to take selfies in front of La Joconde. Nor does it seem to grab as many headlines as the Musée d’Orsay or the Orangerie. But, in a city flooded with museums, with art, with fancy bridges, it’s a relatively obscured gem that’s definitely worth your time.
The Basics
The museum is in the 7th arrondissement, close to Metro lines 8, 12, and 13. It’s easy to get to. Most things are in Paris. They seem to have decided to put a Metro stop every couple of blocks, and I have no complaints about that. But if the Metro isn’t your thing there are buses, and Paris is actually pretty small, extremely walkable, and, despite the stereotypes, I’ve never met a local who wasn’t more than happy to help with directions. Grab a map and go for it.
Located right next to Les Invalides and the military museum, the Musée Rodin is not that far from the Eiffel Tower, and is nothing more than a fifteen-minute stroll toward the Seine from Musée D’Orsay. A few smart Parisians have clued into that proximity and decided to offer a Rodin-Orsay bundled ticket for 21 Euros. Bargain.
It’s an area tourists are drawn to. It’s gorgeous. Full of beautiful buildings, some nice open spaces, and more sites than I can run through without exceeding my word-limit. But, once you notice it, the museum itself stands out. What’s inside it is fascinating and it’s a surprise more people don’t go in.
Rodin’s Place in Paris
I’ve been to the Louvre. I’ve been to the Musée D’Orsay on the first Sunday of the month (free entry to a lot of museums in France; good if you’re on a budget, but not if you’re uncomfortable with crowds). So, as I went to the museum I was prepared for a small wait. I brought water and snacks. A raincoat, a sweater, thermals, a change of clothes, a tent, a sleeping bag, and a first-aid kit. Normal stuff.
But, to my surprise, it seems one of the charms of this place is that, unless you hit a really busy day, you’re not going to be waiting in a long line. You’re not going to be fighting for space in front of even the most famous pieces of art on display, and you can take as much, mostly uninterrupted time as you want to process Rodin’s work.
I was able to walk in, mid-afternoon, right up to the front of the now one-person queue and take the time to embarrass myself by fiddling around on my phone for my ticket without annoying a single person. Art does, after all, deserve calm contemplation. Rodin himself was said to be a bit of a solitary guy, and with his most famous work being a stunning encapsulation of just that – contemplation – it’s nice to be able to take it in without being crowded out.
A Nice Garden and a Nice House
That work, The Thinker, comes right after the entrance, part of a garden which runs around a mansion, l’Hotel Biron. Built around the 1730s, it became popular with artists around the start of the 20th century. Henri Matisse, Jean Cocteau, and Isadora Duncan all lived there, and it was through poet and pal Rainer Maria Rilke that Rodin first came to visit. He ended up renting some rooms there, threw some of his sculptures around the place, and when the French state acquired the land to build a school, he insisted on staying and implored them to preserve the mansion. They did, and Rodin left them a whole heap of artwork. Just like that, voila, a museum.
The garden trail takes you through a bunch of his other works including The Gates of Hell and The Burghers of Calais. It’s green, it’s calm, it’s full of Rodin’s gorgeous, twisted sculptures, magnificently expressive, meticulously executed, and often, somehow, ‘unfinished’. People say Rodin was a master of light and form. He captured unconventional poses; contortion, bulges, curves. Like so much art, it wasn’t appreciated right away. Commissions were cancelled, controversy was… controversied.
Rodin was rebuffed by the most prestigious art school in Paris. He offers consolation to all of us who have ever experienced the cold sting of rejection, which is to say, all of us. He was rejected three times by the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and his first major sculpture was not well-received by critics, who even accused him of cheating, of using a living cast. He managed to go on to be recognised as one of the greatest sculptors of all time, so hey, don’t give up.
Then there’s the mansion. They force you to check backpacks upon entry. As I reflect on that time on the train when I hit a guy in the face with my bag, I come to the conclusion that it’s a good idea.
It’s an old house. The floors squeak. The chandeliers look like they would be an absolute nightmare to clean, but we can see why it was such a popular place, why Rodin didn’t want to leave. It’s beautiful. Ornamental, decorative, fit to house great sculptors. That plural is worth noting, because Rodin’s sculptures are not the only ones you can see here. Tucked in alongside his collection of art (which includes paintings by Van Gogh, Renoir, and Monet) and a large collection of his more precious, less garden-appropriate work, the mansion also hosts a selection from Rodin’s mistress, collaborator, colleague, student, inspiration; Camille Claudel.
An Unsung Genius
Claudel’s story is gripping and tragic. She was an amazing sculptor in her own right, constantly impeded by reluctance to give her the credit she deserved. No bonus points for guessing why.
She was often forced to rely on Rodin to exhibit her sculptures. At one point, she said he had stolen her ideas. Her works on display in one room of the Musee Rodin are incredible, the works of a rare talent, a talent, arguably, to match that of Rodin himself. The most famous, The Mature Age, is seen as a sculpture caught between antiquity and autobiography, depicting the love and rejection of a young woman at the hands of an older man. Rodin cut off his support for Claudel when he saw it.
Sadly, after her father passed away, she was committed to an asylum by her family, her jealous siblings and disapproving mother, who claimed she was mentally ill. She would spend the last 30 years of her life there, despite pleas to her family to have her released, despite a slew of people arguing she wasn’t insane at all. For eccentricities which might have only enhanced the legend of a male artist, she lost more than a third of her life. At the end, her remains were thrown in a communal grave, one final, eternal disrespect for an artist who merited so much more.
Worth a Visit
The Musée Rodin is charming, it’s full of stories to uncover, it’s a trip into art, into sculpture, into Paris, and into history. Yes, its status as one of the less-often lauded museums is reflected in some places, in the worn placards in the garden, in that they’re sometimes weirdly removed from the sculptures they relate to, and in the fact that a guy did get trapped in a bathroom stall while I was there (I have to assume that’s fixed now). But it’s a tranquil spot in a city often bursting at the seams, a museum experience to leave you refreshed and stimulated, rather than strung-out. Beauty, stories, lives; what more can we ask for from a museum?
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