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 Hôtel Biron | |
  Location within Paris | |
 Interactive fullscreen map | |
| Established | 1919; 107 years ago (1919) |
|---|---|
| Location | 77 rue de Varenne Paris,France |
| Coordinates | 48°51′19″N2°18′57″E / 48.855278°N 2.315833°E /48.855278; 2.315833 |
| Director | Amélie Simier |
TheMusée Rodin (English:Rodin Museum) ofParis,France, is anart museum that was opened in 1919, primarily dedicated to the works of the French sculptorAuguste Rodin. It has two sites: theHôtel Biron and surrounding grounds in central Paris, as well as just outside Paris at Rodin's old home, the Villa des Brillants atMeudon,Hauts-de-Seine. The collection includes 6,600sculptures, 8,000drawings, 8,000 oldphotographs and 7,000objets d'art. The museum receives 700,000 visitors annually.
While living in the Villa des Brillants, Rodin used the Hôtel Biron as his workshop from 1908 onwards. Hôtel Biron had been designed by the architectJean Aubert and Rodin donated his entire collection of sculptures, along with paintings byVincent van Gogh,Claude Monet andPierre-Auguste Renoir he had acquired to the French State on the condition that they turn the buildings into a museum dedicated to his works. The Musée Rodin contains most of Rodin's significant creations, includingThe Thinker,The Kiss andThe Gates of Hell.[1] Many of his sculptures are displayed in the museum's extensivegarden. The museum includes a room dedicated to the works ofCamille Claudel and one of the two castings ofThe Mature Age.
The gardens around the museum building contain many of the famous sculptures in natural settings. Behind the museum building are a small lake and casual restaurant. Additionally, the nearbyMétro stop,Varenne, features some of Rodin's sculptures on the platform. The building is served by Métro (Line 13), RER (Line C: Invalides) and bus (69, 82, 87, 92).
Among the works of Rodin's youth,Man with a Broken Nose appears out of step with contemporary aesthetic norms, whileThe Age of Bronze rejects contemporary mechanisms of physical expression. This absence of artifice, like the nudity ofThe Thinker orAdam and Eve guarantees the timelessness of Rodin's works.
The large gardens of the Musée Rodin showcase the most famous bronze sculptures, includingThe Gates of Hell,The Thinker,The Kiss, andThe Burgher of Calais.[2]
The artist also stands out by the monumental aspect of some of his works:Balzac,The Burghers of Calais or the impressive, unfinishedThe Gates of Hell, which contains many elements representing the major works of Rodin (The Thinker, Ugolino,The Kiss orThe Three Shades).
The graphic collection at the Musée Rodin contains around 7,000 drawings. They can be associated with different styles and periods: observation of landscapes, fantasy works inspired byDante orBaudelaire, numerous erotic nudes or even portraits.
The Musée Rodin preserves an important collection of 25,000 photographs. Among these, 7,000 were collected by Rodin himself. The artist showed indeed a great interest for this science and art, and he has collaborated with many photographers, such asEugène Druet, Jacques-Ernest Bulloz,Adolphe Braun orEdward Steichen.
Subjects and themes are varied, Rodin's personal albums attest to his centres of interest and artistic sources, while the portraits and newspaper photographs illustrate his work and his life. Above all, these photographs are a great source to learn what happened in the studio between 1877 and Rodin's death, in 1917.
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The Camille Claudel room contains suchClaudel works as the 1913 casting ofThe Mature Age (1898),The Wave (1897),The Waltz,Sakountala (1905), and an 1892 casting ofBust of Rodin (1888-1889).
Claudel, a student and model for Rodin, and soon his collaborator, associate, and lover, worked with Rodin from 1884 until the early 1890s. They kept in close contact until 1899.
During the twenty last years of his life, as he was living in Meudon, Rodin started a collection of ancient works of art from Egypt, Greece and Rome, then later from the Far East. As the collection was growing, the different pieces invaded the studio and his house, replacing the casts after Antique statues. As Rodin's fame grew, the commissions he received enabled him to continue his collection, reaching over 6.000 works in 1917.
In addition, Rodin's friendships and tastes led him to surrounding himself with works by the Naturalists (Théodule Ribot,Alfred Roll) and Symbolists (Eugène Carrière,Charles Cottet...). Through a series of exchanges made with his artists friends, Rodin owned works of art fromJules Dalou,Alexandre Falguière orJean-Paul Laurens. He also realised important purchases: threeVan Gogh's (includingPère Tanguy, late 1887), Renoir'sNude in the Sunlight and Monet'sBelle-Île.
Recently[when?], contemporary art exhibitions are also organized, as it was done as early as 1949 when the firstSalon de la jeune sculpture took place at the Musée Rodin.Artists such asAnthony Caro,Eugène Dodeigne,Étienne Bossut exhibited at the museum.Bill Viola,Adel Abdessemed andMircea Cantor have been invited to screen videos in the park for the « Nuit des musées ».In 2010, artworks by Belgian artistWim Delvoye were exhibited, as well as a program of video-performances by artists such asVito Acconci,Sanja Iveković,Marina Abramović andMona Hatoum. AHenry Moore exhibition, dedicated to his studio and small sculptures, ran there from October 2010 to February 2011.
First opened to the public on 4 August 1919, the Musée Rodin was housed in a mansion, formerly called the Hôtel Peyrenc de Moras, designed with the lines of classical architecture and ornamented with rocaille decoration. It was built in the Rue de Varenne, between 1727 and 1732. From 1788, the Hôtel was occupied by a series of owners and tenants. In 1820, the Duchess of Charost sold the entire property to three nuns belonging to a religious congregation, the Society of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. A boarding school for girls was opened and the decorations were progressively sold. Between 1820 and 1904, several buildings were constructed on the estate, the Chapel in particular, designed by the architect Jean Juste Gustave Lisch and achieved in 1876.
The Society was dissolved in 1904 due to the 'religious orders' law involving the separation of church and state which prohibited religious orders from teaching. The sisters were evicted and the estate was put up for sale. Awaiting a buyer, tenants were allowed to occupy the building; among them wereJean Cocteau,Henri Matisse,Isadora Duncan andRainer Maria Rilke, whose future wifeClara Westhoff was living in the Hôtel and was the first to tell Rodin about the estate. In 1908, the sculptor rented four ground-floor rooms to use as his studios. From 1911 onwards, he occupied the whole building. In 1911, as the French state had committed itself to purchasing the Hôtel Biron, Rodin started to negotiate with it. The artist announced officially his intention to donate all his works to the French state, as well as his drawings and his collection of antiquities in the condition that the State keeps all these collections at the Hôtel Biron, which will become the Musée Rodin in exchange of the right to reside there all his life.
In 1916, the French Assembly passed a law permitting the State to accept the donations and allocated the mansion and its garden to a museum.Léonce Bénédite was appointed executor of the sculptor's will: his tasks were to manage Rodin's artistic heritage and to supervise the organisation of the future museum.
Listed as a historical monument in 1926, the Hôtel Biron and its grounds have since undergone major renovation and restoration work, to better assert their role as a museum. The most recent scheme was the restoration which began in 2012 and was completed by 12 November 2015, Rodin's 175th birthday. The renovations cost 16 million euro ($17.4 million), and were hailed as a "moral duty" by France's Culture MinisterFleur Pellerin.[3]
On 19 December 1895, Rodin purchased a Louis XIII-style house in brick and stone, built on the heights ofMeudon and called "La Villa des Brillants". In 1900, almost 50 people, including sculptor's assistants, workers and casters, were employed there by Rodin and, although he continued to go to his Paris studios daily, his major creative work was done in Meudon. The place became soon a major place of attraction for friends, admirers or celebrities from France or abroad. It is also in Meudon that Rodin and his wife,Rose Beuret, have chosen to be buried.
After the death of Rodin, the villa and the studio also became a museum, open three days per week. Visitors can discover the atmosphere of the studio and the place where Rodin liked to live and work. Inaugurated in 1948, the museum also permits to glimpse numerous plasters, including casts for Rodin's monumental works, such as theBurghers of Calais and theGates of Hell which allow to discover the different steps of the creative process.
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