September 17 – Rodin Museum, Paris

After catching up with our sleep, we went to the Rodin Museum.

Rodin (1840-1917) was the most popular French sculptor of the nineteenth century. Often dubbed as one of the fathers of modern sculpture, Rodin's works were highly realistic, unlike his predecessors, whose works were largely based on mythology.

The Rodin Museum is located in an eighteenth century mansion where the artist once lived and worked, tucked behind a walled garden away from the noise and hustle of the city. The building is located next to the Invalides, the location of the tomb of Napoleon Bonaparte.

The mansion was originally built for a Paris wigmaker but has also belonged to the Catholic church and the city of Paris. Unfortunately the mansion is undergoing renovations and we could not go into the museum. There was a modern visitors centre where many of the models of Rodin's sculptures are on display.

Attached to the museum is in a very beautiful garden that houses many of Rodin's most famous works of art.

Marg smelling the roses in Rodin's garden

Model used for Rodin's "The Kiss"

Some of Rodin's most famous works are “The Thinker” and “The Kiss”. 

The museum provided some interesting insights into how Rodin created his works.  For example “The Thinker” is actually an enlarged statue of a smaller sculpture found in the work known as the Gates of Hell.  Rodin also would create his statues using nude models. He would then add the clothes to the plaster models before the statues were cast in bronze.

The location of "The Thinker" in the garden is also very interesting.  If you draw a straight line between the dome of the Invalides and the Eiffel Tower it would pass over this statue.

Then from the museum we strolled down to the Seine River and the Eiffel Tower.  You can tell that the main tourism season is coming to an end.  The crowds are smaller than what we experienced last year in June.

For supper we walked down to the Opera district and went to a restaurant called La Parizenne.  It was in Place du Marché Saint-Honoré which is filled with outdoor cafes and restaurants that we stumbled upon by accident. The food was marvelous with large portions.  Marg had lamb and I had veal.  We had an interesting appetizer called a “Love  Apple”.  This is a blanched tomato stuffed with lobster.  We had a bottle of wine from the Chateau Gantonnet. with our meal.  We didn't realize until after we had sat down and ordered that this was a gay bar.  We would have know if we had taken a look inside at the photos of leather glad men trying to look menacing.