France/Spain 2011 - Day 4, Part 2 - Paris: Musée Rodin

"On my income tax 1040 it says 'Check this box if you are blind.' I wanted to put a check mark about three inches away." - Tom Lehrer

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France/Spain 2011
Day 4 - 20th March - Paris: Musée Rodin (Part 2)

My first real stop of the day was the Rodin Museum. Interestingly admission to the grounds was priced nominally (1€).

I have mixed feelings about Rodin. Some of his work was naturalistic to a degree, but he tread a fine line between representation and abstraction.

Unless specified otherwise, all works are by Rodin (as far as I could tell)


The Burghers of Calais


Les Invalides from Rodin Museum


The Gates of Hell

There were some marbles supposedly located in the garden, but it was a pity they were all behind glass.


At the back is Embracing women (#10), and at the front is Eve (#12)


Benedictions (in the centre)


Victor Hugo monument
No, I don't get it either


Man with malformed penis Naked Figure Without Either Head of Hands, Pierre de Wissant
No, this was not by Rodin, despite this being the Musée Rodin


Another man with malformed penis Naked Figure, Pierre de Wissant


Pond and Museum building


Man and Ducks


Ugolin

It seems this is one of the darkest episodes in the Divine Comedy:

"The Count Ugolin, walled with his sons in a prison which will become their tomb, sees them die. Then, pressed by his hunger, he eats their flesh before perishing as well.

Ugolin wanders, devoid of all human dignity, reduced to a beastly state. 'Skinny, emaciated, ribs showing under his skin... an empty mouth and soft lips, which seems to fall... a drooling hungry beast, he crawls like a hyena who has unearthed carrion, on top of the overturned bodies of his sons, whose inert arms and legs hang in the abyss' (Octave Mirbeau)

The figure is constructed around a central void, the torturing is tortured, the dismembered bodies of the children, the deformed limbs, all accentuates the morbid and dramatic expression."


Ugolin and German Speakers


"Rodin Museum, a self financing museum"
It is "the only national museum in France that does not benefit from a public grant by the State"
I wonder what their definition of a "national museum" is. Presumably they do not accept grants for tax or some other benefits.


This was unlabelled. Forcing the flash made no difference.


There was no sign for this but there was an audioguide mark - this was a devious plot to make you pay 4€


Back of the museum (Hôtel Biron, where Rodin worked)


"There is only one good, knowledge, and one evil, ignorance." - Socrates



The Poser

Inside the building there was some unimpressive Roman and Egyptian stuff


Saint John the Baptist
Some tourists tried to link fingers with St John. Tsk.


The Prayer
As with many other works, I found the names questionable and not linked to what I saw. Perhaps this was a prayer to a real woman?


The Cathedral


The Young Girl with a Sheaf, Claudel


The Gossips or Women Chatting, Claudel (Plaster)


The Gossips or Women Chatting, Claudel (Bronze)


The Little Lady, Claudel


The Waltz, Claudel


Vertumnus and Pomona, Claudel


The Age of Maturity, second version, Claudel


Eve


Minerve or Pallas with the Parthenon


Galatée


The Slav Woman or The Sea
I've no idea how the two are related, unless she's a disembodied bust floating in the sea


I Am Beautiful


Disturbingly incomplete 4th century BC Greek funerary stele


Daphnis and Lycenion