It was such a nice and sunny afternoon, that we took a lengthy walk to the Musée Rodin on the Rue de Varenne.  My son and daughter have never been there and wanted to see this lovely museum.

The Thinker (Le Penseur), by Auguste Rodin (1840-1917)  this bronze was cast in 1902.  It was originally entitled “The Poet,” and is meant to depict Dante in front of The Gates of Hell.

Originally the Hôtel Biron, Auguste Rodin, the famous French sculptor resided here after 1908.

It is such a beautiful open space with a beautiful park.  There are many large scale bronzes in the park to see.

The photo left is the entrance to the Museum.  On the right is the grounds outside.  You can see the crowd in the left rear admiring the bronze of “The Gates of Hell.”  It depicts scenes from Dante’s Inferno in high relief.

“The Kiss” by Rodin is a marble sculpture done in 1889.  The eroticism in this sculpture made it controversial.  I read that it was of the Italian noblewoman in Dante’s Inferno, who while reading Lancelot and Guinevere fell in love with her husband’s younger brother. The sculpture shows the man holding the book.  They are discovered and kill by her husband.

“The Gates of Hell” originally made to be the portal of a museum which was never built.  Depicting scenes from Dante’s Inferno, the bronze contains 186 figures. You can see “The Thinker” resting just below on top.

The photo on the right here shows the beautiful staircase leading to the upstairs portion of the museum.  

“The Burghers of Calais” Rodin, 1889, is a two ton bronze sculpture with figures that measure six foot six. It commemorates the six principal citizens to die rather than the entire town’s population during the Hundred Years War.  Prepared to die, with the anguish and sorrow evident, and ropes around their necks they were prepared to be executed.  The queen begged pardon to King Edward III and they were spared.

aan interesting tree bark.  The idea is to take a picture of different backgrounds and then use them in photo shop.

As I started to focus the camera I saw this little red bug and took this picture. If you look closely, you can see what looks like a primitive face on it’s back.  It is so clearly distinctive, I wonder what it is.

Am I seeing things, or do you see it too?