Day at the Rodin Museum
July 7, 2016
Summers in Paris are beautiful. The sun shines bright and sets real late - at 10 pm, the breeze is always cool, there's almost no humidity and the hottest it ever gets is around 28 C/83 F. Just like today when my buddy and me went to check out the Musée Rodin.
One of the things I noticed when I arrived in Paris was the number of cops and soldiers around the city... and those cool-ass FAMAS rifles! I so dig the bullpup design – the barrel length is not compromised but the overall length is a lot shorter. I read somewhere that the FAMAS has a high fire rate, too. Pretty neat.
Moments before I took this photo, A soldier signaled me to not take pictures of him.
Homophobia and transphobia kills.
The famous The Thinker.
Apparently Rodin's style is strong hands and feet.
The Three Shades
Girl with Flowers.
Girls with Flowers.
I never knew Rodin painted! That's because I never googled him before.
Venus' Toilet. I'm not kidding.
A lot of displays in the museum were “drafts”, if you will, or molds which was really interesting because you can see his process. Like going through a writer's balls of crumpled paper in his waste basket.
Call to Arms draft and finished product.
You could see where his fingers worked here.
Gates of Hell draft.
Gates of Hell draft, woman crying + centaurs.
Ugolino and his children variation.
The Tempest
Abs and penis <= I made this up.
It was a pleasant surprise to see a Monet, a Renoir, Van Goghs, and a Thaulow all in one room. Now, if only I could roll one up and stash it in my backpack...
Monet
Renoir
Van Gogh
Thaulow
More balls of crumpled paper.
Hanging Ten on Jade Waves <= I made this up.
The garden was filled with Rodin sculptures. This particular set reminded me of the dance move that became famous back in the 90s when I was a kid in the Philippines.
I took a nap. Not a lot of people could say they napped at the Rodin Museum garden.
There was a cafe in the garden. For déjeuner*/lunch, I tried to order two soups, two croissants and a small glass of wine in French. I got two soups, two croissants and a small bottle of wine. I tried to explain that I wanted the small glass. They gave me another small empty glass.
*interestingly, petit-déjeuner is French for breakfast meaning small lunch.
Before leaving we took a picture by my favorite Rodin: The Gates of Hell which was inspired by Dante's Inferno.
On the way back to the subway station, my buddy and I stumbled upon a cathedral. Since he has never been inside one, I showed him around. I showed him the saints with the candle offering racks, the pews and how priests used to give their homilies before PA systems were invented, the confessional booths, the big-ass organ, the altar and the holy water container by the main entrance where back in my hometown would have mosquito larvae swimming in it because nobody changed the water out. Hence making holy mosquitoes that might've spread holy dengue fever.
We were done for the day. We headed back and dropped by a boulangerie for a loaf of pain de campagne (country bread) and a boucherie for a slab of duck liver pâté.
I really wish that we would never have to leave.
