The Santa Cruz City Council has given the green light to the investment of 15 million euros, divided into four years, to provide the future Rodin Museum in the capital with nearly a hundred works, an institution that will be located in the Viera y Clavijo Park once it has been rehabilitated. This was advanced by the Councilor for Heritage, Juan José Martínez, who explained that there will be 68 original works that will come to Tenerife and to which another 15 replicas will be added, so that, altogether, there will be some 83 pieces that, initially, put that there will be more acquisitions in the future, they will add to the museum’s holdings.
“Among those considered as originals, which are those of which there are up to 12 copies made with the same mold, a first edition will come, that is, the first that was made of the series of 12”, explained the mayor. This is the work Víctor Hugo no debout, agrandissement and that, according to Martínez, has not yet been exhibited at the Rodin Museum in Paris.
In addition, it has been agreed with the French entity that one of the original copies of the famous work of the French sculptor, The Kiss, will be leased, free of charge, to the capital for at least 15 years. Another twenty works will also be transferred free of charge to the city, although the City Council will have to take charge of the transfer. Likewise, “we have negotiated a rental, the cost of which we are still debating, for the Puerta del Infierno. It will be an original and the transfer will be for about 15 years”, explained the also mayor of the Treasury.
However, one of Rodin’s most iconic creations, The Thinker, will finally be gone. The number of originals has already been reached and also the number of reproductions, which, together with the high price, makes it impossible for Santa Cruz to have one of these pieces.
The councilor defended the investment and assured that “we are talking about municipal cultural heritage, an investment that will put us at the head of the cities that invest the most in culture, thus differentiating us and turning the Rodin Museum into one more factor of attraction to the city” .
According to Martínez, once the details of this purchase are finalized, which will be done through a negotiated contract without publicity, since there is only one bidder for the works, it is expected that the first ones will arrive on the Island in the first quarter of 2023, to be exhibited at the Municipal Museum of Fine Arts.
As explained by the councilwoman of Culture, Gladis de León, “the Municipal Museum of Fine Arts of Santa Cruz de Tenerife houses a diverse collection, in terms of disciplines and chronology, and valuable. Bearing this reality in mind, it is entirely logical that this Museum should be the one to host, on its first stay on the Island, the sculptures that will make up the city’s future Rodin Museum, while the rehabilitation work on the building progresses. will house the institution.
“The Museum of BBAA has permanent exhibition halls that can accommodate these bronzes, creating new areas of exhibition, dialoguing with other contemporary works and providing greater richness to the artistic content of the exhibition,” he added.
Martínez explains that, likewise, the future Rodin Tenerife Museum will be able to benefit from the great exhibitions that Paris organizes every two years, from merchandising or even from parallel activities that could even be moved to the Viera y Clavijo gardens.
The list of works ranges from small sculptural pieces, through previous models of the definitive figures, to large works, although the latter are concentrated in reproductions.
The pieces designated as originals have been divided according to the creative styles of the French sculptor, so that the 68 pieces considered as original copies are divided into up to seven aspects in which Rodin’s creation stands out, from portraits, through the body or the expressions.
Management model
Juan José Martínez advanced that at the moment they are studying which management model of the museum would be the most appropriate, given the scope of the project. “We are considering the option of creating a public cultural management company so that it would not only be in charge of managing the Rodin Museum, but also the other large spaces that are going to be put into use in the city, such as the Casa de Carta or the Masonic Temple.
Bermúdez: “The capital will be a first-rate cultural destination”
The mayor, José Manuel Bermúdez, points out that the Rodin Museum project “is a commitment to generating a new focus of international attraction in the city of Santa Cruz. It allows the capital to be positioned as a world-class cultural destination, as this will be the most important Rodin Museum outside of its original headquarters in Paris, and it will generate a close relationship with this great project of street sculpture”.
