Earlier this year I spent a week in Paris. I visited several art galleries while I was there, some of my favourites being the Musée Rodin, and the Musée de l'Orangerie, home of Monet’s waterlilies. The Musée Rodin is a small gallery showcasing some of the most famous works of the esteemed sculptor Auguste Rodin, located just a few minutes walk from the southern banks of the Seine, next to Les Invalides, the incredibly opulent resting place of Napoleon (where I had spent the morning after climbing the towers of Notre Dame in the heavy rain). A large part of the collection is displayed in the beautiful gardens surrounding the main building, which is dotted with ornate water fountains and flower displays.
Napoleon's tomb inside L'Hôtel des Invalides (click to navigate)
By the time we reached the Musée Rodin the rain had stopped but a heavy mist hung in the air and shrouded the statues in dew drops. I didn't really know anything about Rodin beforehand, other than having seen some of his most famous sculptures in art books, but the museum was totally awe inspiring nonetheless. The thing with Paris is that everything is so extremely beautiful, grandiose and luxurious that you become kind of overwhelmed by how much beauty you are surrounded with.
For me though the Musée Rodin was special because of the way that it interacted with nature and the environment in which the works of art were situated - it felt like more of an interactive and immersive experience than some of the other more traditional indoor galleries I had visited.
On display they also had several of Rodin's incomplete works, which I found even more fascinating than many of the finished casts as it was like looking at a sketch in marble - it enabled you to understand the sheer level of skill and effort that went into producing his sculptures that was pretty inspiring.
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