So as not to completely bury the lede, Lisa’s father passed away a couple of weeks ago. As a result, we’ve been back in the United States – Philadelphia to be specific – tending to all of the things that have to be done at a time like this. We aren’t really comfortable turning the Ramble into a full-blown diary for all that we’re always sharing travel stories and such, but one small silver lining of this trip is that her dad lived within easy walking distance of several lovely museums and parks. So, when we’re stuck waiting for the wheels of bureaucracy to turn we can do more than just twiddle our thumbs. First up, the peculiarly-located Rodin Museum.
I say “peculiarly”, but the answer to almost any question about a city that begins with “why” is answered with “money.” Why is there a Rodin Museum in Philadelphia, a city that the artist has no particular affiliation with? Because a dude with money bought his stuff and built a building, of course! That said, something commonly said within our household on topics like this goes “if we’re going to have rich people spending a lot of money it might as well be spent on public improvement and culture!” So, thanks to the otherwise-forgotten Jules E. Mastbaum for collecting the work of Rodin and commissioning the architects before he died, and shout out to his widowed wife, Etta, for seeing it through to the end. So ok, rich dude buys fancy art and shows it off, how is it from a wildly less privileges perspective?
It’s actually really nice. It’s certainly smaller than the Musée Rodin in Paris but they manage to pull the same vibe, at least in the outdoor space. There’s a sunken garden area with dirt-and-gravel paths (sensible, not trying to keep grass on the well-trod paths) and the beginnings of some beautiful plantings. We’re here in April, after all, and the weather was in the 50s until just last week. You can tell from looking around that their gardeners know what they’re doing and it will be just gorgeous iiiiiin about six to eight weeks. Alas. There are several of his larger works (such as the Burghers of Calais at the top of this post). Are they “originals”? Tricky question, since Rodin created casts and then (sometimes) made numerous castings. Is “the Thinker” in Philadelphia older than the one in Paris? No, we don’t think so. But neither of them is the original thing he created; that’s the models and then the final cast. We try not to get too worked up about this when it comes to his bronzes. His marble on the other hand…
We particularly love “Call to Arms” on the left; normally a spirit coming to the side of a dying soldier comes across as comforting or consoling; sometimes you get a Valkyrie type vibe where the soul of the fallen warrior is being led to their reward. Here, the spirit has full on “Let’s F#*@ing Go!” energy that is, if nothing else, novel. And of course there’s the “Gates of Hell” on the right, an uncompleted work designed for an uncompleted museum that is nevertheless on the short list of his possible masterpieces. The museum has a suggested entrance fee but is free to all comers if you can’t afford or be bothered to pay the ticket. As a smaller facility you can probably consume it all at a leisurely pace in about an hour, and it’s well worth it if the weather is nice and you’re anywhere near it.
