Brazil

Within the framework of an international cooperation agreement, the Rodin Museum is to deposit 62 Rodin plasters with the Palacete das Artes, Bahia, for a period of 3 years.

Since 1995, a certain number of exhibitions of Rodin's work have been held in Brazil - Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Recife and Salvador de Bahia. Their success with the public has prompted their promoters to put together a more ambitious project – the creation of a Bahia Rodin Museum.

The Governor of the State of Bahia has given this project his full support, allocating to the future museum the Palacete das Artes, Graça Street, Salvador de Bahia. On 24 May 2002, an agreement was signed by the Governor of the State of Bahia, the Brazilian Secretary of State for Culture and Tourism, the French Minister for Culture and Communication, Jean-Jacques Aillagon, and the Director of the Rodin Museum.

This cooperation agreement came within the framework of a cultural decentralisation policy on an international level. A collection of Rodin's works was to be established on the initiative of the State of Bahia.

After receiving the approval of the National Museum Consultative Committee, ratified by decision of the Minister of Culture and Communication, the Rodin Museum in Paris is now preparing to deposit a series of 62 sculptures, including the Kiss and the Thinker and various assemblages for a period of three years. The works were chosen jointly by teams from the Rodin Museum and the Bahia Museum. The Rodin Muse um has taken on the restoration of all the sculptures.

For its part, the State of Bahia has restored the park and palace where the collection is to be housed and will be responsible for the conformity, museographic layout and operation of the museum. Mrs. Heloisa Helena Costa has been appointed scientific manager of the museum. Redevelopment work to the museum has been finished and the exhibition conditions validated by the Department of French Museums and the Rodin Museum.

In 2002, the acquisition of several bronzes produced by the Paris Rodin Museum enabled the garden of the Bahia Rodin Museum to be transformed into a sculpture park with The Shadow Torso, The Martyr and Jean de Fiennes (naked). The Walking Man on a Column was acquired in 2004.

At present, the Rodin Museum is holding an exhibition in Brazil entitled Rodin, from Studio to Museum - Photographs and Sculptures as part of the Year of France in Brazil. This exhibition was held in Belo Horizonte this summer and will go on show at the São Paulo Art Museum on 27 October 2009.

The Rodin Museum, Paris

In 1916, Rodin gave all his collections to the French State on the condition that they would be exhibited at the Hôtel Biron, Paris. The Rodin Museum opened its doors there in 1919. As a Public Establishment under the control of the Ministry of Culture, the Rodin Museum is a legal entity and enjoys independence regarding its revenue and expenditure. With an average of 700,000 visitors a year, it is one of the most visited museums in France after the Louvre, Versailles and Orsay Museum but before the Orangerie and the Picasso Museum.

Press contact for musée Rodin, Paris