Rodin Museum

Rodin Museum, Paris

Rodin Museum

Tucked away in the nondescript ‘Rue de Varenne’ in the shadow of the imposing ‘Hotel des Invalides’, my personal favorite, the ‘Hotel Biron’, (named after a trainer, The Marechal de Biron, as war hero from the battle of Fontenoy) a real gem of an 18th century castle in its own grounds and home since 1919 to ‘The Rodin museum’. Constructed in the Rococo style between 1729-1730 by ‘Jean Aubert’, the architect who went on to build the magnificent chateau of ‘Chantilly’ to the north west of Paris, the castle is worth a visit in its own right. It is elegant and understated, the south facing ‘salons’ being luminous and airy, with large windows overlooking the lovely gardens.

The Hotel Biron has been played by Jean Cocteau, the painter Matisse, and of course by Rodin himself, who occupied the exhibition with the light and the light streaming in through the large French windows it is easy to imagine the artist himself at work on a new masterpiece, but in fact he continued to live and work at ‘Meudon’ and used this Paris apartment for soirees with his friends from the world of art and literature.