Rodin Museum

Rodin Museum
Benjamin Franklin Parkway at 22nd Street


That's Daisy - Gates of Hell. - Sarap itulak sa impyerno bwahahaha, that's my bestbestbest friend!


Jules E. Mastbaum, Philadelphia's great movie theater magnate and one of its best-known philanthropists, began collecting works by Auguste Rodin in 1923 with the expressed intent of founding a museum to enrich the lives of his fellow citizens. He set about assembling a complete view of Rodin's work, acquiring not only finished bronzes, but plaster studies as well as drawings, prints, letters, and books. By the time of his death in 1926, Mastbaum had brought together the greatest Rodin collection outside of Paris. He had also commissioned two great French Neoclassical architects working in Philadelphia, Paul Cret and by Jacques Gréber, to collaborate on a museum and garden, but did not live to see it completed.

Hanako

The Rodin Museum, which opened to the public in 1929, houses 124 sculptures, including bronze casts of the artist's greatest works: The Thinker, perhaps the most famous sculpture in the world; The Burghers of Calais, his most heroic and moving historical tribute; Eternal Springtime, one of the most powerful works dealing with human love; powerful monuments to leading French intellectuals such as Apotheosis of Victor Hugo; and the culminating creation of his career, The Gates of Hell, on which the artist worked from 1880 until his death in 1917.

The Burghers of Calais

The Martyr... Like me (Pwede na kaming pabaril parehas sa luneta!)


The famous Thinker... (Magkamaganak kaya sila ni ThinkerBell?) Hmmm...


Auguste Rodin (French, 1840–1917) brought monumental public sculpture into the modern era. Though he was well acquainted with the academic traditions and idealized subjects of classical and Renaissance sculpture, Rodin's aim in his work was to be absolutely faithful to nature. His uncanny ability to convey movement and to show the inner feelings of the men and women he portrayed, the bravura of his light-catching modeling, and his extraordinary use of similar figures in different mediums, have established him as one of the greatest sculptors of all time.

The Rodin Museum was the gift of movie theater magnate Jules Mastbaum (American, 1872–1926) to the city of Philadelphia. Mastbaum began collecting works by Rodin in 1923 with the intent of founding a museum to enrich the lives of his fellow citizens. Just three years later, he had assembled the largest collection of Rodin's works outside Paris, including bronze castings, plaster studies, drawings, prints, letters, and books. In 1926, Mastbaum commissioned French architects Paul Cret and Jacques Gréber to design the Museum building and gardens. Unfortunately, the collector did not live to see his dream realized, but his widow honored his commitment to the city, and the Museum was inaugurated on November 29, 1929.

Damned Women

O diba kunwari ako'y cultured talaga! Eto ang aking natutunan aking pagsasaliksik upang maging isang ganap na social climber to the max, kung kinalailangan magpangap ka - magpangap ka o diva! Yan ang mga naituro sa akin ng aking nanay na si HRH Queen Reyna Elena, ang nanay ko dito sa blogging world at sa mundo ng kaengkatuhan. (Ang nagturo sa akin maging timang. Salamat Inay!)

Over 60,000 visitors annually make the trip to see this spectacular Museum and the gardens which surround it. Designed by Jacques Gréber as part of the Museum's overall plan, the Rodin Gardens have remained a calm respite from the clatter of the city, even as the Parkway has changed over the years.

As Rodin himself knew, the appreciation of works of art is heightened by nature—and that is the goal of the Rodin Gardens. The reflecting pool in the garden courtyard evokes calm and echoes the cool beauty that the visitor will experience within the building.