Rodin Museum

The Musée Rodin opened to the public on August 4, 1919, in the Hôtel Peyrenc de Moras, a mansion located in the Rue de Varenne that was built between 1727 and 1732. After changing ownership several times, the building was occupied by the Society of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, who ran a boarding school for girls there until 1904 when they were forced to vacate the premises due to a law prohibiting religious orders from teaching. The building was put up for sale, and several notable tenants, including Jean Cocteau and Henri Matisse, lived there until the sculptor Rodin rented four rooms for his studio in 1908. By 1911, Rodin had occupied the entire building and was negotiating with the French government to donate all his works, drawings, and antiquities in exchange for the state keeping them at the Hôtel Biron and allowing him to live there for the rest of his life. The French Assembly passed a law in 1916 allowing the state to accept Rodin's donations, and the mansion and its garden were allocated to the Musée Rodin. The building was listed as a historical monument in 1926 and has undergone several major restoration projects, including a 2012 renovation that was completed on Rodin's 175th birthday. The renovation cost 16 million euro and was considered a "moral duty" by France's Culture Minister Fleur Pellerin.

Rodin purchased a house in the Louis XIII style made of brick and stone on December 19, 1895. The house, located on the heights of Meudon and named "La Villa des Brillants", soon became a hub of activity for the sculptor and his team of almost 50 workers, including assistants and casters. While he continued to visit his Paris studios daily, Rodin did most of his major creative work in Meudon. The place also attracted many friends, admirers, and celebrities from France and beyond. Upon their deaths, Rodin and his wife, Rose Beuret, were buried in Meudon.

After Rodin's passing, the villa and studio were converted into a museum that is open three days a week. Visitors can experience the ambiance of the studio and see where Rodin lived and worked. The museum, inaugurated in 1948, also showcases numerous plasters, including casts for Rodin's monumental works, such as the Burghers of Calais and the Gates of Hell, that reveal the various stages of the creative process.

Rodin was an artist who defied the norms of his time, as seen in his sculptures. Man with a Broken Nose, created in his youth, deviates from contemporary aesthetic norms, while The Age of Bronze rejects contemporary physical expression mechanisms. Rodin's works are characterized by their absence of artifice, such as the nudity in The Thinker or Adam and Eve, which ensures their timelessness.

Furthermore, Rodin's works stand out due to their monumental aspect. For instance, Balzac, The Burghers of Calais, and the impressive, unfinished The Gates of Hell, which features many elements representing Rodin's major works (such as The Thinker, Ugolino, The Kiss, or the Three Shades).

The Musée Rodin's assortment of graphics comprises approximately 7,000 sketches, encompassing a range of styles and periods. These include depictions of landscapes, imaginative works inspired by literary figures such as Dante and Baudelaire, a plethora of erotic nudes, as well as portraits.

The Musée Rodin houses a significant collection of 25,000 photographs, including 7,000 that were personally collected by Rodin himself. The artist held a keen interest in the science and art of photography and collaborated with several photographers, including Eugène Druet, Jacques-Ernest Bulloz, Adolphe Braun, and Edward Steichen.

The subjects and themes depicted in the collection are diverse, with Rodin's personal albums showcasing his areas of interest and artistic inspiration, while portraits and newspaper photographs offer insight into his life and work. These photographs serve as an invaluable resource for understanding the happenings within Rodin's studio between 1877 and his passing in 1917.

In the Camille Claudel room, you can find several artworks by Claudel, including The Mature Age (1898) casted in 1913, The Wave (1897), The Waltz, Sakountala (1905), and a Bust of Rodin (1888-89) casted in 1892.

Claudel was not only a student and model for Rodin, but also his collaborator, associate, and lover. She worked with Rodin from 1884 until the early 1890s, and despite their separation in 1899, they remained in close contact.

Rodin spent the last two decades of his life in Meudon, where he began collecting ancient works of art from Egypt, Greece, and Rome, and later from the Far East. As his collection grew, the pieces gradually took over his studio and home, displacing the casts of antique statues. With the commissions he received as his fame grew, Rodin was able to continue adding to his collection, which eventually comprised over 6,000 works by 1917.

In addition to his interest in ancient art, Rodin was also drawn to the works of Naturalist and Symbolist artists such as Théodule Ribot, Alfred Roll, Eugène Carrière, and Charles Cottet. Through his friendships and artistic exchanges with these individuals, Rodin acquired works by Jules Dalou, Alexandre Falguière, and Jean-Paul Laurens. He also made several significant purchases, including three Van Gogh paintings (one of which was Père Tanguy from late 1887), Renoir's Nude in the Sunlight, and Monet's Belle-Île.