Museums in Paris: Rodin Museum

The Rodin Museum is a place that you absolutely need to put on your bucket list. Located in central Paris, in an eighteenth-century mansion, this magnificent museum houses the works of a famous French sculptor and artist - Auguste Rodin (1840 - 1919). But this museum also has a special room dedicated to Camille Claudel (1864 – 1943), Rodin's muse, which was a very talented artist as well. The Rodin Museum is surrounded by a beautiful and vast garden, where you can see and admire some of Rodin's masterpieces such as “The Thinker” (“Le Penseur”) or “the Doors of Hell” (“Les Portes de l’Enfer”). This museum is just an incredible place and definitely worth visiting. 

A little bit of history

The Rodin Museum is located in the Hotel Biron, a mansion, designed and built between 1727 and 1732. Since its construction, many different owners occupied this place, and from 1904, several painters and writers lived here, such as Jean Cocteau, Henri Matisse and Rainer Maria Rilke. In 1911, Auguste Rodin rented the whole place and then even decided to donate his entire work to the French state in exchange for the right to stay in the Hotel Biron till the rest of his life. In 1919, two years after the death of the artist, this mansion became the Rodin Museum, and the Hotel Biron was listed as a historical monument since 1926. The museum was closed for renovation in 2012 and has finally reopened for Auguste Rodin’s 175th birthday, in 2015. Today, in this museum, dedicated to the impressive work of August Rodin, you can see his sculptures but also drawings, paintings, ceramics and even photography. The museum also houses some of the major works of Camille Claudel, Rodin’s muse and student. In the Rodin Museum, you can see Claudel's most famous sculpture “L’age mur” (The Mature Age), also known as "The Destiny" or "The Fate". 

Movies

The Rodin Museum is one of the most popular and most visited museums in Paris. Some 700 thousands of visitors come every year to see and admire the works of Auguste Rodin and Camille Claudel. But this museum, situated in an incredible eighteenth-century mansion and surrounded by a beautiful and vast garden, is also a perfect place for movie sets. A very famous French teenage comedy “La Boum 2” from 1982 was filmed partly in this museum as well as “A Midnight in Paris” from 2011 directed by Woody Allen. 

Practical information

The Rodin Museum in Paris is open every day except on Mondays. The entrance to this museum is free of charge for everyone every first Sunday of the month, from the 1st of October to the 31st of March. In the heart of the Rodin Museum garden, you will find a restaurant “The Café du Musée Rodin”. This restaurant is open from Tuesdays to Sundays and has a beautiful view over the museum’s garden. It is a perfect place for your a lunch or coffee break.

Photo Credit © iStockPhoto/wesvandinter