Rodin Museum, Salvador de Bahia (Brazil)
From 1995, a number of exhibitions of Rodin’s works were held in Brazil: Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Recife and Salvador de Bahia. Their success with the public prompted their promoters to put together a more ambitious project: the founding of a Bahia Rodin Museum. An agreement between the French and Brazilian governments was signed in 2002. This cooperation agreement falls within the framework of an international policy of cultural decentralization. The governor of the State of Bahia allocated the Palacete das Artes, in Salvador de Bahia, to be used as the premises of the future museum.
After receiving the approval of France’s National Museum Consultative Committee, ratified by the Ministry of Culture and Communication, the Musée Rodin, Paris, loaned some 62 sculptures, including The Kiss, The Thinker and various assemblages for a period of three years. The works were chosen jointly by teams from the Musée Rodin and the Palacete das Artes. The Musée Rodin undertook the restoration of all the sculptures, while the city of Bahia renovated the gardens and palace in which the collection was to be housed and was responsible for the conformity, museographic layout and running of the museum. Since 2002, the acquisition of several bronzes cast by the Musée Rodin, Paris, has transformed the garden into a sculpture park (Torso of The Large Shade, The Martyr, Jean de Fiennes, Nude).
The Salvador de Bahia Rodin Museum opened in October 2009.
