The Rodin Museum: Is it Worth Visiting During Your Time in Paris?
Compared to some of Paris’s more popular art museums, like the Louvre or d’Orsay, the Rodin Museum may fly under the radar of many visitors to France’s capital city. It features the works of the famed French sculptor, Auguste Rodin, and offers a much more relaxed visit than many of Paris’s top tier highlights.
But relaxed doesn’t mean visitors don’t have plenty to see. With hundreds of pieces of art from Rodin and others, including sculptures, paintings, photos and drawings, the Rodin Museum still has enough to make a visit here worthwhile.
In this post, I’ll cover what a visit to the Rodin Museum is like, as well as whether or not a visit here is worth it when Paris has so much to offer travelers.
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Visiting the Rodin Museum
Visiting the Rodin Museum is a pretty easy and pleasing experience. From the outside, the museum doesn’t look like much. The gardens are mostly walled off, preventing tourists from being able to peer in without buying a ticket.
When you enter, the first thing you encounter is the ticket office. If you purchased your tickets ahead of time, you can go straight up to have them scanned. From here, this first building has a small temporary exhibit, but you should skip this till after you see the rest of the museum and gardens. Save your energy for the permanent exhibits.
Fortunately, the highlight of the Rodin Museum greets you almost immediately after getting your ticket scanned and entering the gardens. The Thinker, Rodin’s most famous sculpture and one of the most recognizable sculptures in the world, sits in the middle of several manicured bushes with the Hôtel des Invalides looming large just beyond the walls of the garden. It’s as great an introduction to any museum or art gallery I’ve visited so far.
From there, you can venture around the gardens or head straight to the museum. I recommend going into the museum first and using the gardens afterwards to unwind a bit.
My favorite part of the museum was how it includes drawings and various iterations of his works. These show how he crafted with different materials as he worked towards the final product. It was interesting to see how his sculptures evolved over time, like we’re getting a glimpse into his creative process.
The museum itself is quite nice, too. Each room is ornate, palatial and has large windows overlooking the gardens to let natural light in to illuminate the art. The museum is also organized neatly with your tour going around the two floors in a straightforward, circular path.
Of course, your visit isn’t complete until you wander around the lovely gardens. The gardens are large yet still compact enough to not be overwhelming. You can walk around aimlessly or follow the path generally around the perimeter to see everything. Even in the middle of February with everything more or less dead, it was still quite pleasant to walk around the gardens and see the various outdoors sculptures.
Is the Rodin Museum Worth Visiting on a Trip to Paris?
The answer to this question really depends on your itinerary and interests. Three questions to consider are:
- Do you prefer smaller, more intimate art galleries with less visitors but also less things to see?
- How many days will you be in Paris?
- Have you been in Paris before or do you expect to visit again?
The Rodin Museum is perfect for visitors to Paris who like smaller museums compared to large galleries, like the Louvre or d’Orsay Museum. Many people consider those the must-see museums in Paris, but they’re also huge, with almost too much to see and an equally large number of visitors. The Rodin Museum may not have as much to see, but that may not be a bad thing for some people.
Another important consideration is how long you’ll be in Paris for. On our first visit here, we only had four days. I wanted to visit the Rodin Museum. However, with everything else we had planned to see, it just wasn’t feasible without getting serious museum fatigue. If you’ll be in Paris for several days where you can spread your itinerary out, then you should give the Rodin Museum a visit.
Similarly, if this trip to Paris is your first, you may want to hold off on seeing the Rodin Museum, especially if you have a busy itinerary. Save as much of your energy on the more important monuments and museums on this trip while making sure to give yourself plenty of free time to rest. The Rodin Museum is perfect for a second visit when you can see Paris in a more relaxed fashion.
History of the Rodin Museum
A historical overview of the Rodin Museum has to start with Auguste Rodin. Auguste Rodin was a French sculptor during the second half of the 19th century and early 20th century. During that time, he was one of the more prolific sculptors, becoming an influential figure in modern sculpting.
He was notable for being able to translate complex human emotions into static, sculpted forms. Some of his most famous works that encapsulate this theme are The Thinker, Monument to Balzac and The Kiss, all of which can be seen in the Rodin Museum.
In 1908, Rodin rented several rooms in the Hôtel Biron, an abandoned mansion built in 1732. He first used the building to store his sculptures before purchasing the whole building 1911. Then, in 1916 he donated the entirety of his works to the French state on the condition that they keep it in the Hôtel Biron and have it become a museum. The state agreed, and now we all get to enjoy the Rodin Museum and his works in this palatial building.
Ticket Options for the Rodin Museum
The Rodin Museum offers several ticketing options. Standard entry is €14 for adults and is free for anyone under 18, regardless of their nationality. Members of the EU between the ages of 18 and 26 can also enter for free.
From October to March, guests of all ages and nationalities visiting Paris can also enter the Rodin Museum free of charge on the first Sunday of each month. This offer falls in line with many other museums in and around Paris that offer free entry on the first Sunday of various months.
Guests can purchase combo tickets that combine the Rodin Museum with three different nearby museums, too. These include the Army Museum for €26, the d’Orsay Museum for €25 and the Jacques Chirac Quai Branly Museum for €23.
Perhaps the best bargain for people with a busy Paris itinerary is the Paris Museum Pass. This city ticket offers discounted prices on nearly all the major museums and monuments around Paris. Guests can purchase a pass for 2, 4 or 6 days. Once you know your itinerary, you can do the math to see if the Paris Museum Pass will be worth purchasing.
Not included in your ticket is an optional audio guide to help visitors who want to learn more about the various artworks on display. Children can also receive a tablet that comes with an interactive game to guide them through the museum.
Practical Information About the Rodin Museum
The Rodin Museum has a cafe in the garden where guests can purchase light fare, coffee, wine and other beverages. We didn’t stop here, but I checked the menu as we were walking by and prices seemed reasonable for a museum of this caliber.
Behind the cafe is a small restroom with both a lady’s and men’s room. This bathroom is the only one available to all guests visiting the Rodin Museum. Keep this fact in mind as you’re visiting the museum, because it can be a bit of a hassle getting to the restroom while you’re inside the main museum. There is a bathroom inside the museum for guests who either have a disability or need a changing table for children.
As you’re exiting the Rodin Museum, you can purchase gifts and souvenirs from a small shop behind the ticket office. You can also find a cloakroom near the entrance to the main museum.
If you’re not interested in the on-site cafe, we stopped at a small boulangerie just up the road from the Rodin Museum and were allowed to bring it into the garden with no questions asked. Just past the ticket office are a few benches overlooking The Thinker where you can eat your meal before heading into the museum.
Other Things to do Near the Rodin Museum
You have no shortage of other things to do near the Rodin Museum if you’re planning on spending a day in this part of Paris.
Hôtel des Invalides is the most obvious attraction to visit before or after the Rodin Museum. This museum houses Napoleon’s tomb and the Army Museum, which details France’s military history.
The next nearest sights are the Grand Palais and Petit Palais. Of course, you could always venture over to the Eiffel Tower to either climb this iconic structure or to simply enjoy taking in the view from Champ de Mars.
For those visitors looking for more art, the d’Orsay Museum is my favorite art gallery in Paris. You can even see Rodin’s original Gates of Hell here. The world-famous Louvre Museum is also just an additional few minutes’ walk from the d’Orsay.
Frequently Asked Questions About the Rodin Museum
Are advanced tickets necessary?
They’re certainly not needed during less busy seasons, but they may still be convenient so you can skip even a small line during the busy season. It should be noted that purchasing a ticket ahead of time does not reserve a specific date and time. Instead, your online ticket is good for a year from the purchase date.
When is the best time to visit the Rodin Museum?
The smallest crowds at the Rodin Museum can be found in the intervening months between the holiday season and mid to late spring. However, if you visit at this time of year, the gardens will all be drab and dead. To get the best of both worlds, visit during late spring, before the summer crowds pick up, or early fall before the foliage all starts to die off.
Should I do a guided tour of the Rodin Museum?
I don’t think so, unless you’re especially interested in this type of art. Most informational placards weren’t in English, but I didn’t feel like I was missing out on much.
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