Rodin Museum

Why go

Rodin Museum earns time because it offers a compact art visit where bronze, stone, architecture and planting can be read together. Its central thread is one of the largest public collections of Rodin sculpture outside Paris, set in a formal garden. The Gates of Hell gathers figures and motifs that recur across Rodin's work. The garden frames major bronzes at a slower scale than a large museum wing.

What to look for

• The Gates of Hell gathers figures and motifs that recur across Rodin's work.
• The garden frames major bronzes at a slower scale than a large museum wing.

The full story

Rodin Museum is best understood through one of the largest public collections of Rodin sculpture outside Paris, set in a formal garden. The Rodin Museum is a museum located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania which contains the largest collection of sculptor Auguste Rodin's works outside Paris. For the first time since the museum opened in 1929, the doors were closed for a three-year, $9 million renovation which brought this museum back to its original splendour. Doors were reopened to the public on July 12, 2012. The Museum was the gift of movie-theater magnate Jules Mastbaum to the city of Philadelphia. Mastbaum began collecting works by Rodin in 1923 with the intent of founding a museum to enrich the lives of his fellow citizens. Within just three years, he had assembled the largest collection of Rodin's works outside Paris, including bronze castings, plaster studies, drawings, prints, letters, and books. In 1926, Mastbaum commissioned French architects Paul Cret and Jacques Gréber to design the museum building and gardens. Unfortunately, the collector did not live to see his dream realized, but his widow honored his commitment to the city, and the Museum was inaugurated on November 29, 1929. The best-known of Rodin's works, The Thinker (1880–1882), sits outside the museum in the entry courtyard. Visitors once entered through a cast of The Gates of Hell, located at the main entrance to the museum, which is no longer used.

Useful to know

• Check the official site before going because access can change independently of the main art museum.
• Combine it with the Barnes or Philadelphia Museum of Art along the Parkway.

Your next visit

Estimated · Declared scenario and planning estimates; no live opening, weather, queue or booking service.