Shanghai to launch first overseas branch of Paris’ Rodin museum with 50 of his sculptures
- Centre d’Art Rodin in Pudong New Area opens in September with a show of versions of 50 Rodin sculptures, and artist’s Chinese art collection
This September, Musée Rodin in Paris will open its first international outpost – in China.
The French museum’s two existing sites in central Paris and in nearby Meudon, in the villa where Auguste Rodin lived until his death in 1917, are well-known cultural destinations thanks to the fame and influence of the sculptor behind The Thinker (1904) and The Kiss (1882).
The new branch, a private museum called the Centre d’Art Rodin, is authorised by the Musée Rodin and is opening after eight years of preparation as the two countries mark 60 years of diplomatic relations.
The Centre d’Art Rodin is privately funded by a board headed by Wu Jing, a French-Chinese private collector who opened the Museum of European Art in Hangzhou in eastern China in 2017.
The centre’s artistic director, Kong Xianhe, told the Post that the French museum chose Shanghai as the location for its first international outpost because of its cultural significance and vibrant art scene, as well as the potential of its economy and urban development.
