An eighteenth-century Paris mansion where Auguste Rodin rented four rooms in 1908, later took the whole building, and which he gave away in advance — donating his entire output to the French State on condition it buy the house and turn it into his museum. It opened in 1919, two years after his death.
The Hôtel Biron was built on the rue de Varenne between 1727 and 1732, the project eventually overseen by Jean Aubert, architect to the king — a fine example of the rocaille style then in fashion. By the early twentieth century it was close to abandoned, and its rooms were being let cheaply to whoever wanted them.
Who wanted them is a remarkable list. When Auguste Rodin took four ground-floor rooms as studios in 1908, the other tenants of the building included Jean Cocteau, Henri Matisse, the dancer Isadora Duncan, and the sculptor Clara Westhoff — who was the one who told Rodin about the place. From 1911 he had the whole building.
Then he did something few artists have managed. In 1909 he proposed giving the French State everything he had made — "all my works in plaster, marble, bronze and stone" — on a condition: that the State keep the collection in the Hôtel Biron. The National Assembly accepted in 1916, purchased the mansion, and agreed to make it his museum. Rodin kept the right to live there for the rest of his life.
He died in 1917. The Musée Rodin opened in 1919.
So the building is not a museum that happens to hold Rodin's work. It is the house he was living in, converted on terms he set himself while he was still in it — an artist arranging his own posterity down to the address.
It also holds a substantial body of work by Camille Claudel, his student, model and collaborator, alongside the paintings and antiquities Rodin collected. And the garden is not incidental: a large part of the visit is outdoors, with the bronzes set among the beds and hedges.
The Hôtel Biron is built on the rue de Varenne, the project overseen by Jean Aubert.
Rodin rents four ground-floor rooms as studios; Cocteau, Matisse, Isadora Duncan and Clara Westhoff are among the other tenants.
He proposes giving the State all his work on condition the collection stays in the Hôtel Biron.
He takes over the whole building.
The National Assembly accepts the donation, buys the mansion, and allows him to live there for life.
Rodin dies.
The Musée Rodin opens.
The national Rodin collection, in the Hôtel Biron at 77 rue de Varenne — an eighteenth-century mansion where Rodin himself lived and worked from 1908. It holds his sculpture, his own collection of paintings and antiquities, and a substantial body of work by Camille Claudel.
Because he arranged it. In 1909 he offered the French State everything he had made, on condition that the collection be kept in the Hôtel Biron. The Assembly accepted in 1916, bought the building, and let him go on living there. He died in 1917 and the museum opened in 1919.
When Rodin took his rooms in 1908 the building was close to abandoned and let cheaply. The other tenants included Jean Cocteau, Henri Matisse, the dancer Isadora Duncan, and the sculptor Clara Westhoff — who was the one who told Rodin the place existed.
Yes — the museum holds a substantial body of her work alongside Rodin's. She was his student, model and collaborator, and the collection is one of the main places to see her sculpture in Paris.
Yes, and it is a large part of the visit. Much of the sculpture is shown outdoors among the beds and hedges rather than in rooms, which is closer to how the bronzes were meant to be seen.
On display here
The doors Rodin worked on for the last thirty-seven years of his life and never finished, from which The Thinker was lifted out and enlarged. Shown at the Hôtel Biron, the house he gave the State on condition his work stayed in it.
On display here
The monumental enlargement stands in the garden of the Hôtel Biron, where much of the museum's sculpture is shown outdoors — closer to how the bronzes were meant to be seen than a room would allow.
Matisse was among the tenants of the near-abandoned Hôtel Biron when Rodin took rooms there in 1908.
Cocteau was among the tenants of the near-abandoned Hôtel Biron when Rodin took rooms there in 1908, alongside Matisse, Isadora Duncan and Clara Westhoff.
Rodin rented four ground-floor rooms of the Hôtel Biron as studios in 1908 and took the whole building from 1911. In 1909 he offered the French State everything he had made on condition the collection stay here; the Assembly accepted in 1916 and let him live there for life.
The Musée Rodin holds a substantial body of Camille Claudel's sculpture alongside Rodin's own work — one of the principal places to see her in Paris.
A small theatre at 38 boulevard Raspail, founded by Jean-Marie Serreau in 1952 and gone within a few years. On 5 January 1953 it staged the first performance of Samuel Beckett's En attendant Godot, directed by Roger Blin — the night modern theatre changed.
Visit the place
James Joyce's longest Paris address — the family flat in a quiet cul-de-sac off the rue de Grenelle, with the cool quiet study where Work in Progress cost twelve hundred hours a chapter.
Visit the placeThe 27-metre fire-stair tower Keith Haring painted freehand for the children of Hôpital Necker in April and May 1987 — his permanent Paris work, restored after a six-year conservation campaign.
Visit the place
Blaise Cendrars's final home — the ground-floor apartment in the 7th arrondissement he moved to in August 1959 and where he died on 21 January 1961.
Visit the placeThe Friday Letter
The cafés, studios, and walk-up flats where the work was made — one story from the map in every letter.
