26 November, 2006 | Leave a Comment
Yesterday I visited the Musée Rodin. I waited until the roses in the world-famous rose garden were no longer in bloom. Great timing! On the plus side, an exhibition of Rodin’s erotic drawings has just opened. There was a sign outside warning that children weren’t allowed in, but I’m sure this was just a ploy to increase ticket sales. The drawings were extremely explicit, however, bordering on the grotesque. The most interesting thing from my perspective was that the women in the drawings (women who were all quite flexible) would be considered fat by today’s standards. I plan to write more about this in the future, about the female forms on display in this city and how they look very different from what we consider the “ideal” today.
After spending 30 minutes or so rubbing shoulders with some of Paris’s finest pervs, I went to the main museum, housed in a glorious light-filled mansion that was at one point divided up into artists’ studios. Rodin lived in one of the studios until his death. (Matisse, Rilke and Isadora Duncan also had studios there at various times.) My favorite sculpture was The Kiss (pictured above), which is probably almost everyone’s favorite. Interestingly, if you look at the statue close-up, the male of the pair is missing a rather important body part. Ahem. I thought this was very strange. Someone should do a dissertation on this. The world needs to know why.
I also loved the sculptures by Camille Claudel. (If you’ve ever seen the movie Camille Claudel, then you might remember the scene where Isabelle Adjani as the going-mad Camille stands outside the window exquisitely screaming Rooooddddddiiiiiiinnnnnn!!!!! I kept hearing that in my head as I walked around the museum. That movie sorta poisoned my view of Rodin forever.)
You can see more of my photos here. Here’s an image of The Thinker with the Eiffel Tower behind it. Oh. So. Lovely.
Anglofille said @ 9:53 pm | paris sights + walks |
