June 2026
Sculpture is my favorite medium when it comes to the arts, and a visit to the Bourdelle Museum was a day spent in wonder and happiness.
Antoine Bourdelle was a French sculptor and teacher. He was a student of Auguste Rodin, a teacher of Giacometti and Henri Matisse, and an important figure in the Art Deco movement and the transition from the Beaux-Arts style to modern sculpture.
In September 1893, Bourdelle joined the studio of Auguste Rodin. His collaboration with Rodin lasted fifteen years.
In 1900, Bourdelle, Rodin, and the sculptor Desbois opened a free school of sculpture, the Institut Rodin-Debois-Bourdelle. One of the students was Henri Matisse. The school did not last long.
The museum is located in Bourdelle’s studio. It is an excellent example of Parisian ateliers from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
In 1922, Bourdelle began plans to turn his studio into a museum. In the early 1930s, Gabriel Cognacq provided funds to purchase the studio, thereby preventing the dispersal of the artist’s remaining works. The museum was inaugurated in 1949, expanded in 1961 by architect Henri Gautruche, and again in 1992 by Christian de Portzamparc.
Premier Victoire d’Hannibal 1885 – The back is as stunning as the front.
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