Last spring we told you about the reopening of the Bourdelle Museum (close to our hotels) after two years or work, but it’s only now that we’ve been able to get down there and see for ourselves.

And what a superb surprise it is! We’d forgotten how vast the exhibition rooms are and how cute the gardens are. There’s also a brand new restaurant and terrace, and entrance is free!

Take a look why you have to make a visit…

When visiting Paris, the Bourdelle Museum isn’t necessarily at the top of everyone’s list of things to do and see. Bourdelle is as well-known as Rodin in France (and had quite a career internationally), but if you’re not a huge fan of sculpture, you might not even consider going to see the museum now housed in the building where he worked and lived.

But that would be a shame.

Even if you’re not particularly moved by sculpture, this is your chance to make your friends’ photos look old and ordinary. At the Bourdelle Museum, the high-ceilinged rooms, intimate workshop and apartment, giant sculptures and lush gardens will make you the star of Instagram. We really think a visit is essential, especially as there’s no line to get in, and entrance is free!

From the outside, we’ll admit you’d be forgiven for thinking that it’s no big deal – all you can see are high brick walls, perhaps a couple of bushes too, but as soon as you enter the height of the ticket desk and boutique give you an idea of the scale of things to come.

This is where Antoine Bourdelle lived and worked from 1885 until 1918, although the place wasn’t quite its current size back then – a covered gallery was added in 1951, the exhibition room for Bourdell’s larger pieces was built in 1961, and the extension that is now the entrance was designed by architect Christian de Portzamparc and opened as recently as 1992.

The museum was created in 1949, twenty years after the death of the sculptor, and his daughter was its manager for a time. You can really feel the presence of Bourdelle and imagine him working, thinking, creating as you visit his on-site apartment and workshops.

However, what might surprise you the most when you arrive is how much greenery there is, with one long, slightly wild garden to the rear and a more orderly one streetside, so filled with sculptures that it has a surreal feel to it.

In a corner to one side of this garden is Bourdelle’s apartment, replete with numerous sculptures (both big and small), the original herringbone oak wood floor and a sweet wood burner which was no doubt essential in the winter.

Upon exiting this room, you’ll see a staircase that leads to one of the new attractions of the freshly reopened museum. Upstairs, the apartment used by Bourdelle’s daughter Rhodia has now been transformed into a restaurant, with a bright main room, a large covered terrace and another open terrace with huge sculpted plaques on the wall and a great view of the garden below.

The restaurant is of course called Rhodia, and offers South American cuisine with some dishes inspired by the southwest of France, where Bourdelle was born.

We can’t wait to test the place out for lunch or brunch, and in the meantime you can follow the restaurant on Instagram here.

Back downstairs, you’ll find another garden, long and thin, snaking between two exhibition rooms. With its large sculptures and even larger trees, it’s an urban jungle with surprises at almost every step (and a very big surprise if you go right to the end – we’ll let you discover that for yourselves!)

These spaces are all amazing, and we haven’t even got to the exhibition rooms yet!

You’ll find one on either side of the long garden (plus another room at the end), including Bourdelle’s workshop with everything almost as he left it, and a new room for classes of students to learn about the man and his work.

These rooms are where most of the smaller pieces are on show (‘small’ compared to those at the end of our visit) and you’ll learn how Bourdelle sometimes worked from photos as a reference for his work, including sculptures like Hercules the Archer (military man André Doyen-Parigot posed as the model).

There are also numerous examples of the Dying Centaur, one of Bourdelle’s most emblematic pieces, and a heart-wrenching sight each time you come across it.

However the pièce de résistance is what’s known as the salle des plâtres, a vast, jaw-dropping space with Bourdelle’s biggest works (including yet another huge dying centaur). Truly impressive!

For an out-of-the-ordinary cultural visit with a stunning venue, gorgeous art and multiple photo ops, the Bourdelle Museum is really worth considering.

And, once again, it’s free to enter, and not far from our hotels! A no-brainer 😀

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The Bourdelle Museum (here) is open every day except Mondays from 10am-6pm

Closed 1st May, 25th December and 1st January

Entrance: free!

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Une publication partagée par Musée Bourdelle (@museebourdelle)