YOGA & RODIN

I suppress a snicker every time I look at Zee Thinker.  Isn't this statue, by now, the epitome of a cliche?  And aren't cliches cause for mirth?

However, he provided me with a wonderful photo op, because my favorite Parisian dome, Les Invalides, was there in the background.  Even though it was a dreary day, that dome gleamed in the gloom.

The first time I visited the Rodin Museum I was struck by the notion I was standing in the room at the tail  end of an extreme yoga class.  I spent a few moments imagining an avant garde Rodin savvy about yoga way before even Mr. Iyengar.  The rooms were awash with sprawled bodies, legs wide open, backsides hugely arched, genitals flying, necks flung back like they had just been hung. The profusion of movement in the rooms.  Earthy.  Bold.  Open.

Verging on mayhem.

This time where was all that yoga?  It seemed quieter to me.   None of my favorites were there.  None of the contortionists.  Maybe because it's November?  The leaves are falling off the trees.  Time to calm things down before the madness of Christmas?

The first time I was there, there was a wind storm that day.  Maybe the wind crated that sense of energy and sweat.

I love this museum either way, any way.  This is where Rodin lived his last years.  The shape and moldings of the rooms are intact.  The gardens, now at the end of the year are starkly beautiful.

And outdoors, in addition to The Thinker, there are several pieces.  One is my all time favorite.

The Burghers of Calais.

Their story is incredible--their love and bravery, the leaders of their people, willing to give up their lives because it was the morally right thing to do.

I liked their faces close up.  Here's one of them.

And one minute later?  After facing their own death to save the people of Calais?  They are allowed to live.

Let's face it.  Solemnity, suffering, and unhappy endings are not the honey of life.

Happy endings are.

Comments

[Yogadawg]

This is a nice point about yoga and Rodin. Having an arts background I know that there are artists who have studied anatomy more in depth then a lot of yogis. Thanks.