The Rodin Museum has been closed for renovation for the past few years. It turned out that when they decided to do some renovation and updating that the interior was significantly degraded. So they gutted the place and redid all the interior. Mechanical, electrical, plumbing, the whole enchilada, to the tune of over 15 million euros. They had to rebuild supporting walls, floors and interior spaces, the result of which is an entirely new inside space that looks remarkably like the old space so bravo to them.
It also means that they can display significantly more of his work than when we first visited, significantly. I think the first time we visited there were several rooms not open to the public, but now I think virtually all the rooms are accessible and they utilized them to the max. Most people are not aware that Rodin was also a pretty fair painter, they display a lot more of his work on the walls now to go along with his sculpture.
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| Rodin by Laurens |
In addition his monumental works he also did portrait busts of significant French citizens and fellow artists. In return the artists painted portraits of him and these are displayed next to the bust, very interesting. This Rodin portrait is by J.P. Laurens, a teacher of John Thompson when he studied here and in return there is a portrait bust of Laurens by Rodin
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| Laurens by Rodin |
We arrived mid-afternoon, which meant almost a dusk in December, and it was dark when we got out around 6:00pm. So we walked back to the front of Invalides and waited around to see the Tour Eiffel lit up. But that never happened, for whatever reason (climate change conference?) the tower was not lit up for even the usual 5 minutes at the head of the hour. Deb was a bit discouraged by that bit of bad luck, and I don't blame her. But we did walk over to Concorde and then along the Champs Elysee to visit all the temporary Christmas Market stalls, it's a bit kitschy but still a fun walk as it was a very temperate evening. After our walk we caught the bus back to our apartment and had a quiet evening.
The Rodin Museum has been closed for renovation for the past few years. It turned out that when they decided to do some renovation and updating that the interior was significantly degraded. So they gutted the place and redid all the interior. Mechanical, electrical, plumbing, the whole enchilada, to the tune of over 15 million euros. They had to rebuild supporting walls, floors and interior spaces, the result of which is an entirely new inside space that looks remarkably like the old space so bravo to them.
It also means that they can display significantly more of his work than when we first visited, significantly. I think the first time we visited there were several rooms not open to the public, but now I think virtually all the rooms are accessible and they utilized them to the max. Most people are not aware that Rodin was also a pretty fair painter, they display a lot more of his work on the walls now to go along with his sculpture. 
We arrived mid-afternoon, which meant almost a dusk in December, and it was dark when we got out around 6:00pm. So we walked back to the front of Invalides and waited around to see the Tour Eiffel lit up. But that never happened, for whatever reason (climate change conference?) the tower was not lit up for even the usual 5 minutes at the head of the hour. Deb was a bit discouraged by that bit of bad luck, and I don't blame her. But we did walk over to Concorde and then along the Champs Elysee to visit all the temporary Christmas Market stalls, it's a bit kitschy but still a fun walk as it was a very temperate evening. After our walk we caught the bus back to our apartment and had a quiet evening. 
How cool!
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