Today is my last chance to squeeze in one more paean to June’s lovely Birthday Blossom before I turn to my own Birthday Blossom in July. On a recent Birthday Blossoms field trip to France, I had the privilege of visiting Musee Rodin in Paris. Opened in 1919 the museum is dedicated to French sculptor Auguste Rodin. It is housed in the building that served as Rodin’s workshop and was donated to the French State at his death, along with his entire collection. The museum exhibits many of Rodin’s most significant sculptures, including The Thinker and The Kiss.
The museum is lovely and I highly recommend a visit. The loveliest part by far is the large garden where some of the sculptures are displayed. Rodin is a favorite artist of mine and I had visited the museum before, in autumn. Although it was a bit chilly the day I went, the garden was still a beautiful place to visit. Many of the trees and bushes were bare, but there are many evergreens as well and the garden had a certain stark beauty about it. It had snowed a bit a few days before I visited and some of the sculptures still had a dusting of snow, to charming effect.
This recent visit revealed a whole new aspect of the museum - the roses. I visited the first week of June and assumed that the garden would be more colorful than it was on my last visit. I didn’t know what a treat Rodin had waiting for me. Every plant that could flower was in bloom and the garden was bursting with blossoms of all sorts, including spectacular roses. They were everywhere, a wide spectrum of variety, fecundity, and hue. The roses transformed a beautiful place into a earthly paradise. While I adore Rodin’s sculptures, I must admit that I spent my time gazing at the roses. Nature’s beauty is transient we know, but how glorious it is for those few moments. June’s own Birthday Blossom is one of the loveliest gifts we receive from Mother Nature.