Visiting Rodin

 

I recently visited with the Rodin sculpture collection on display right now at the Polk Museum of Art, something I have wanted to do for a few months when it first opened. It closes at the end of October.

I sometimes forget how much I enjoy a good visit to an art museum until I go and engage with the artist, the work, and the stories. I am always up for some art and history (the two usually go together), but Auguste Rodin also touches a note of the familiar (many of these sculptures are so well known). Another artist I have deeply appreciated for years is the German poet Rainer Maria Rilke, who worked for Rodin in the early 1900's. So, I have known of Rodin, but never known his works in real life in an up-close way. So, I was very much looking forward to a little visit when I heard of this exhibit opening.

I picked a good time to go on a Sunday afternoon. It was not very busy and I could take my time walking around, reading all the info provided. I really didn't know much about Rodin, except his connection with Rilke, so it was enjoyable to learn about his life and work. "The Gates of Hell" was a piece modelled after Dante's The Divine Comedy, so naturally that drew my attention and interest. "The Benedictions" was kind of angelic and mythical. The story of the "Burghers of Calais" was a moving tale (with accompanying sculptures of the individual persons) of a siege during the Hundred Years' War when the French town of Calais was taken by the English and the town's supplies was completely cut off so the people starved for 11 months. Until 6 people offered themselves as sacrifices to the Lords of England in exchange for relief to the town. Rodin sculpted each of the 6 people, most were on display, but apparently they were never executed as the King's wife changed his mind in the end, but that willingness to walk into certain death to relieve the siege of the town is memorialized in these bronze figures.

 So, a little art date to the museum to see the Rodin sculptures was a great way to spend a little time. Something about sculptures fascinates me. How they are molded and formed into a new creation is a wonder to my non-artistic mind. An art filled visit engages my senses and words with a bit of history brought to my doorstep, so close by at the Polk Museum of Art.