My office buildng had a major power cut this morning. Just about everything but the emergency lighting went out. I say just about everything because there was one important exception.

As I was sat in the murky gloom (I don't have a window and the emergency lights are pretty poor) I could hear the sounds of the coffee vending machine working away in the distance.

Investigating further, I found most of the people who work in the building congregating around the vending machines. Having waited my turn in the queue for a drink, I asked how it was that the vending machines still worked.

It seems that they are wired into the same circuits as the emegency lights. The reason being that in this computer dependant age if there is a power cut obviously no work can be done, so the workforce might as well go and have a break. Being France it is against the law to have a break without having a coffee, and so the vending machines are wired to the emergency circuits.

However I look at this, I can't help but be impressed!

A few weeks ago, we went to the Musee Rodin. This is a museum dedicated to the works of the sculptor Auguste Rodin who is probably most famous for his statue “The Thinker”. The museum is located at a house where Rodin spent his last days. During his time there he became so attached to the place, that he decided to donate most of his works to the French nation in order that they could stay in the house after his death. I have to admit to not being particularly enamoured with the idea of going there, but as Darling Wife wanted to go, and as it situated very close to where we live, it seemed as pleasant a way as any to spend a dull Saturday afternoon in Paris.

There are 2 parts to the museum, the house which contains a large number of his sculptures and the gardens, which as well as having a few of the bigger items in the collection, is also a minor attraction in it’s own right.

The sculptures in the house, range from early to final works and vary in size and material. These are interesting enough, but I personally found the exhibits that explained how the larger bronze statues are made quite fascinating. This was something I had never really thought about before. But when I did think about it, it became obvious that you don’t start off with a large block of bronze and chip away at it in the same way as you would a block of Marble. What you do is make a mould and produce a casting. This is also done for the plaster sculptures as well. I’ll return to this later.

Also in the house are various paintings and drawings by the great man. Finally, there are a Van Gough and a Renoir hung somewhat nonchalantly on one of the walls.

In the garden, there are examples of the “The Thinker”, “The Gates of Hell” and “The Burghers of Calais” – trust me these are famous works even if like me, you haven’t heard of them. Also in the garden are a large ornamental pond (complete with a family of ducks) and some very pleasant trees and flowers. There is also the obligatory coffee shop and all in, it’s quite an oasis of calm in the otherwise bustling centre of Paris.

I wrote above, that “There are examples of the “The Thinker”…” This is because due to the way the statues are made (casting) it is possible to make more than one copy. Indeed, the example of the “The Burghers of Calais” on display here was cast in 1926 some years after Rodin’s death. To me this is a bit of a swindle. I always thought that these things were original much like famous paintings etc. So it was a bit of a surprise when I figured out that although I can say I have seen a copy of the “The Thinker”, I can’t say I have seen THE “The Thinker” because there is no one original to see. To confuse things even more, some of the works were recast in different moulds later in Rodin’s life as he tried to improve on them. So somewhere out there are “The Thinker Mk1” and “The Thinker Mk2” and so on.

If that wasn’t bad enough, reading my guide book later on that evening revealed another fact that I had never considered.

Much is made of the cafe culture in Paris (and indeed it will be the subject of a post here in the near future).One of the things that is constantly mentioned is the fact the great artists and thinkers of the 19th and early 20th Century used to congregate in the various Paris Cafes and talk about their works and other matters of import. Well, in the case of Rodin at least, he was able to spend his time in the cafe because someone else was doing the work for him!

It seems that in the case of sculptors, the more famous you became, the less you did. Towards the end of his life, all Rodin was doing was sketching a few ideas on paper and letting other people such as chap called George Rudier produce the sculptures for him. This is not to say Rodin wasn’t talented, he obviously was (and he himself started out producing work for other people) but it seems a little disingenuous to me for his later works to be promoted as his when this isn’t entirely true. The idea and the design were his, but the art of producing the final article was left to someone else.

So, perhaps a typical entry in Rodin’s diary would read like this…

Got up, had breakfast, told Georgie boy to produce a statue, something simple today perhaps – don’t stay too late. Then went down the cafe with Renoir and the boys. Heard that Vincent VG has chopped his ear off – what on earth did he do that for!

Then again, maybe it didn’t! Whatever, the museum WAS fascinating and it certainly made me think about a number of things I had never considered and so that can’t be a bad thing.