Rodin in Meudon. The Villa des Brillants and the Museum Hélène Marraud

Photo : J. Manoukian

"And now, today. I caught the train for Meudon this morning at nine o'clock (Montparnasse station, twenty minutes' journey) ... First there is a long avenue of chestnut trees, strewn with coarse gravel. Then you come to a small wooden, latticed door. Then another one. You turn round the corner of the small red and yellow house and stand - as if before a miracle - in front of a garden full of stone and plaster figures." (Rilke to his wife, 2 September 1902).

Anonymous Pavillon de l'Alma in Meudon négatif gelatin silver negative on glass 17,7 x 23,9 cm Ph. 7411

Anonymous Rainer Maria Rilke in Meudon platinotype 10 x 7,7 cm Ph. 1170

The Villa des Brillants, built in the stone and brick style of Louis XIII, stands on the heights of Meudon, with a view of the picturesque Val Fleury, and is surrounded by vast grounds sloping down to the Seine. Rodin purchased it from a former notary, Alfred Irat, who had in turn acquired it from Marie-Marcelle-Delphine Fortin, wife of Cool, a painter and sculptor who had added a studio next to the house. He seems to have rented it for two years before buying it at an auction on 19 December 1895.
The sculptor gradually turned his property into an appropriate setting for his work. New buildings and studios soon accommodated the practiciens (sculptor's assistants), workers, casters and a secretary (including Rilke between 1905 and 1906) hired by Rodin. About fifty people, it is said, worked for the master in 1900.
As a lover of nature, the garden served as an ideal environment for his meditations, and especially for his works and antique pieces, some of which were displayed in a museum, later known as the studio of antiquities. He also surrounded himself with paintings by Falguière, Monet, Roll, Van Gogh, Carrière and Zuloaga. Rose, his faithful companion, ran the house and carried out the daily tasks. Until 1900, this was the master's secret garden, a "melting pot" for his work in full gestation. Although Rodin continued to go to his Parisian studios every day (especially the one at the Dépôt des Marbres), it was in the intimacy of Meudon that he accomplished his most creative work.
After the major retrospective of his sculptures, presented in a separate pavilion in Place de l'Alma, on the fringe of the Universal Exhibition, his property in Meudon became an inevitable port of call. A succession of visitors came to the Villa, friends, models, patrons, French and foreign personalities, and even Edward VII, King of England, in 1908. It was here, more than in his Parisian studios, that the vast scope of his work could be fully appreciated for the Pavillion de l'Alma, where his works had been displayed, was rebuilt in the garden in 1901, a year after the Exhibition ended. "The effect of this vast, bright hall where all these dazzling white statues seem to gaze out at you from behind high glass doors, like fauna in an aquarium, is extremely powerful. It makes a great, an immense impression ..." (Rilke to his wife, 2 September 1902).

Anonymous Rodin, Rose Beuret and Loïe Fuller in front of the Villa des Brillants gelatin silver negative on glass 20,1 x 25,3 cm Ph. 7754

This is where the various sketches and studies, finished or under way, for Balzac, Ugolino, and The Call to Arms could be viewed. The Gates of Hell were transferred here in 1911 or 1912 and this is also where the first Museum dedicated to the sculptor was set up during his lifetime.
Rodin continued to extend his property and acquired several parcels of land between 1902 and 1917. Between 1907 and 1910, he reconstructed at the bottom of his land the pediment and part of the facade of the Château d'Issy-les-Moulineaux, built at the end of the XVIIth century for the Condé family and burned down during the Commune in 1871. It is now the site for the tomb of the sculptor and his wife Rose, both buried under the statue of The Thinker.
On the death of Rodin on 17 November 1917, one year after his three donations to the State, which included the Villa des Brillants, the property in Meudon "full of traces of the private life of the Master and his active career, (...) was turned into a place of pilgrimage for those who wanted to study the man and his work more deeply" (Governing Board of the Museum, 26 March 1919).

Pierre Choumoff Funeral of Rodin 1917 gelatin silver print 17,2 x 22,4 cm Ph. 1012

This started a debate on the question of opening the Museum. Despite the fact that everyone was favourable to the idea, the matter was postponed several times, in 1922, again in 1925, and it was only finalized after the war. In 1931, the Museum had to be demolished for safety reasons since the Pavillon de l'Alma had not been built to last. It was replaced by a big building "something very simple, and lighter", fitted behind the pediment of the Château d'Issy. It was built by Henri Faviers who worked on it from December 1926 onwards. Originally, this project was supposed to have been financed by Jules Mastbaum, an American art patron who was the leading light behind the Rodin Museum in Philadephia, but it was finally his heirs who provided the necessary funds in exchange for a donation of twenty four plasters to the American Museum. The Museum was restored in 1945 and finally inaugurated on 29 May 1948.

Jacques-Ernest Bulloz Overall view of Rodin's studio gelatin silver print 27,5 x 37 cm Ph. 966

Thanks to the generosity of Mrs. Simpson, a rich American for whom Rodin had made a portrait, the villa, complete with its furniture, was renovated in 1921 but could not be opened immediately. The second phase of renovation works was carried out in 1932 but it was not until 1953 that the ground floor was opened to the public. During this period, however, certain people, especially artists, could visit the museum on special request. But the curator, Georges Grappe, who kept the invitation cards at their disposal, complained "I have been asked for so many ... that I use them as filing cards!"
The storerooms were built at the same time as the Museum in 1931, and from 1937 housed the moulds which until then had been kept in Issy-les-Moulineaux. The space was doubled in the early eighties so that the collections and their inventory could be completely reorganized. The entire property, with its garden, villa and museum, was classified as a Historical Monument on 17 February 1972. The principal figures and studies for monuments are now exhibited in the vast hall of the Museum which immediately strikes visitors with its bright light and the white atmosphere emanating from the plaster casts. In addition to these major works, showcases display numerous studies, particularly studio pieces, small unknown works experimenting with assemblage, repetition or fragmentation, which plunge visitors into the very heart of Rodin's creative spirit.

Studio at the Villa des Brillants Photo : A. Rzepka

The villa - with its studio, dining room and small sitting room - was completely renovated in 1997. The layout of the interior is a faithful copy of the original, as can be seen from old photographs, and contains works and furniture which belonged to Rodin. On the first floor, visitors can finally see his furnished bedroom, including the bed from where he used to admire the Seine, and covering an entire wall, a huge XVth century Christ, "a genuine marvel" (Coquiot), probably from Northern Italy.