Tuesday, August 16, 2011

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)

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The Burghers of Calais

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Les Invalides from Rodin Museum

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The Gates of Hell

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

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

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Benedictions (in the centre)

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

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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

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Another man with malformed penis Naked Figure, Pierre de Wissant

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Pond and Museum building

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Man and Ducks

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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."

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Ugolin and German Speakers

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"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.

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This was unlabelled. Forcing the flash made no difference.

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

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

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


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The Poser

Inside the building there was some unimpressive Roman and Egyptian stuff

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

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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?

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The Cathedral

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The Young Girl with a Sheaf, Claudel

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The Gossips or Women Chatting, Claudel (Plaster)

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The Gossips or Women Chatting, Claudel (Bronze)

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The Little Lady, Claudel

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The Waltz, Claudel

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Vertumnus and Pomona, Claudel

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The Age of Maturity, second version, Claudel

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Eve

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Minerve or Pallas with the Parthenon

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Galatée

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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

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I Am Beautiful

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Disturbingly incomplete 4th century BC Greek funerary stele

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Daphnis and Lycenion

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