Musée Rodin

Musée Rodin was an absolutely beautiful place. I was told that I may be offended by the sculptures that I saw, either religiously or otherwise, but I have to say I found most of the pieces to be wonderful. Despite expecting to be a little off put coming into it based on what had been said, I really wasn’t offended by anything at all. I thought “The Hand of God” was a beautiful depiction of God’s hand in the creation of the world, and I loved “The Gates of Hell”. I have always had a fascination with the supernatural, in the narrative form, and I saw this piece as another expression of that. Also, as a believer, it was incredibly interesting to see someone’s depiction of what the gates of hell may actually be like. It’s chilling.

I somehow always end up spending time with the less famous works in museums regardless of how close I am to say, “The Thinker” this was no exception. I spent most of my time journaling with “Cathedral”. Which is a sculpture of two hands coming together. The sculpture is quite oversized which is what initially brought me to it because I love things that are either oversized or too small. My initial draw was definitely the oversized hands but what kept me there was my confusion about the piece. 

It seems to be a very romantic and sensual piece with the fingers just brushing the skin, and the angle of the arms too strange to be that of one person. This of course made me question the name, Cathedral. How could a name like Cathedral, which by definition is a religious gathering place, be put to something so sensual? It doesn’t seem to fit. 

Sorry I draw so poorly

As I was thinking about this I realized something else about the hands, both are certainly female and so appear to be from the same person despite the odd angle their arms would have to be at to make this work. Believe me, I tried. I left the statue still not 100% sure what the piece was about, but with every intent of finding out. 

I also happened to notice a very interesting pattern in the visitors by age. The path they used to move through the room seemed to change with their ages. You can see this in my lovely diagram below.

I spent the remainder of my time at Musée Rodin in the gardens. I think the gardens are easily my favorite part of most of the places that we go. I just love being outside and seeing the unique and ornate landscaping, experiencing the integration of sculpture and nature, and taking in the fresh parisian air.