Peter Gaechter is a Lake Geneva area resident who occasionally contributes GenevaLunch guest blog posts on a variety of topics.

by Peter Gaechter

My wife and I looked at each other and half-shrugged. “A little disappointing”, she said. I agreed. The Rodin érotique exhibition at the Fondation Gianadda in Martigny, Valais, which closed 14 June, left a little to be desired, we thought. I have often had this feeling at Gianadda, too often for it to be a fluke.

Billed as a revelatory exhibition of a previously unknown facet of the sculptor’s oeuvre, namely his drawings, erotic ones to boot, the visitor is introduced to a few great sculptures – some well-known and beloved – and a clutch of about 80 drawings, sketches, and watercolours of nudes, supposedly erotic. The unprepared visitor leaves with a sense of “so what? What am I taking away from this?” And Gustav Klimt it is not.

The exhibit is indifferently curated. Each item is of course carefully dated and named. But the entire show is presented in an artistic vacuum. Gianadda has relied again on its formidable reputation and drawing power to pull a selection of pieces from the Musée Rodin in Paris to Martigny.

I didn’t know, for instance, until I read the slightly more expansive Gianadda newspaper on the way home, that some of the earlier sketches were done for Rodin’s everlasting Gates of Hell portal, which he never completed. Some of his most famous sculptures were originally conceived for that project. Likewise, the exquisite Austrian poet, Rainer Maria Rilke, was Rodin’s secretary, and their relationship was close, life-long and mutually fruitful. He could have been a rich source of commentary for the exhibit. Also, the poet Baudelaire, author of Les Fleurs du Mal was Rodin’s favourite, and a source of much inspiration. This is nowhere evident in the exhibition. It is a disappointing expenditure of CHF18 per head.

Having said that, whatever the show, whatever the season, Gianadda’s sculpture garden is without doubt one of the most magical places on earth. I believe it rivals Machu Picchu, Tikal, or Pagan. Built on vestiges of Roman ruins, the subtle interaction between the landscaping and the whimsical and sometimes majestic works by some of the most renowned modern sculptors, including Brancuso, Moore, Nikki de St.  Phalle, and, yes, Rodin, is simply sublime. And well worth the CHF 18.

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