Musée Bourdelle

Musée Bourdelle is a Paris museum dedicated to the work of sculptor Antoine Bourdelle (1861-1929), located in the 15th arrondissement near the Montparnasse area. The museum preserves his studio, molds and many of his sculptures and plaster studies.

Exhibits center on Bourdelle’s sculptures, plaster casts and drawings, and the site includes a landscaped sculpture garden that displays several large-scale works. The museum’s layout emphasizes the artist’s working spaces and is compact compared with larger national museums in Paris.

The museum occupies the sculptor’s former studio and related spaces that were preserved after his death and opened to the public as a museum devoted to his oeuvre. Over time the site has been maintained to present both finished bronzes and the preparatory plaster models that document his methods.

Located in the southern part of central Paris, the museum sits near Montparnasse and is accessible by city transit. The immediate neighborhood is urban and contains other cultural institutions and galleries.

• Collection size: Small museum with concentrated holdings focused on the sculptor's working practice and plaster collection rather than large-scale museum galleries.

What to See #

• Bourdelle's studio: Housed in the artist's former studio and workshops, displaying original plaster casts, sketches and finished sculptures collected from the studio layout.
• Sculpture garden: An outdoor sculpture garden that exhibits large bronzes and provides views of many of the artist's monumental works in an open setting.