6abc Loves the Arts: Rodin Museum's 100th anniversary

This fall, the Benjamin Franklin Parkway turns 100 years old, and museums along the route will be celebrating with special exhibitions and events.

That includes the Rodin Museum, which is marking the 100th anniversary of Auguste Rodin's death, this year.

"He was often called the father of modern sculpture, and he's an artist who continues to appeal to us today," says Rodin Museum Curator, Jennifer Thompson.

To honor the French sculptor's legacy, the Rodin Museum is taking part in Rodin 100, a worldwide celebration involving museums throughout Europe and North America.

Here in Philadelphia, the centenary celebration revolves around The Kiss.

"It's works that Rodin did involving couples," says Thompson. "Men and women, mothers and children, female lovers; and he's exploring the notion of passion in many, many different ways."

Visitors can also explore the French-inspired gardens that surround the museum.

"It's a way of kind of stepping off of the business of the parkway," says Thompson, who ticks off some of the garden's great sculptures, "like Burghers of Calais, The Three Shades or The Thinker, which is out front."

Rodin's burial plot in Paris is next to a cast of The Thinker, and when the Rodin Museum opened on the Parkway in 1929, Thompson says, it included a very special design element: "Not many people know that the faade of the Rodin museum is a reproduction of Rodin's grave," Thompson says.

The Rodin Museum is also preparing for the Parkway's centennial celebration, which kicks off Sept. 8.

"We'll be participating in a series of exhibitions, lectures, programming outdoors," says Thompson, "so it's a nice opportunity to celebrate this beautiful sort of roadway or parkway that is really at the heart of our city."

Rodin 100 continues through the year's end and the museum's current gallery is on view through 2019. For tickets and show times visit www.TheArtsinPhilly