The origins of the museum: Alfred Boucher 

In 1902, Alfred Boucher was a famous and respected artist who accrued distinctions and public commissions. He spent his time between Aix-les-Bains and Paris where, that year, he opened the “La Ruche” residence to house his less affluent fellow artists. However, he had not forgotten the town in which he had grown up and, still in 1902, he embarked on creating the museum in Nogent-sur-Seine. As soon as it was inaugurated, the collection included a significant number of sculptures, which grew rapidly in the years that followed. In addition to Alfred Boucher’s donations, other sculptors or their heirs have also made donations. Hence, some of the masterpieces in the Camille Claudel Museum were already on display in 1902: Le Souvenir by Paul Dubois, Première Pensée d’amour (First Thought of Love) by Marius Ramus, the busts of his parents by Alfred Boucher. However, the collection is not just about sculpture. Alfred Boucher donated part of his collection of paintings and graphic arts, supplemented by donations from contemporary painters such as the landscape artist Léonce Vaÿsse. Other donors are behind a heterogeneous collection of engravings, antiques, medals, coins... A wide-ranging collection of ceramics is due to the combined generosity of the Sevres Manufactory (792 objects) and Élise Boucher, Alfred Boucher’s wife (54 objects). This exceptional contribution by the Sevres Manufactory was no doubt fostered by Alfred Boucher’s personal connections and is reflected in the very substantial exhibits donated by the Cité de la Céramique for the reopening of the museum in 2017.

Establishment of the first museum in Nogent-sur-Seine 

 
In 1902, the museum was initially set up on the first floor of the “Château”, an old house acquired by the municipality in 1899 that stands in the middle of a public garden. It spread to the second floor in 1903, and in 1905, an old shed located further down was renovated and transformed into a sculpture gallery. It was designed to accommodate such monumental works as Joan of Arc by Paul Dubois and the Monument to Doctor Ollier by Alfred Boucher, which were then added to the collections. This extension helped to establish the institution as a museum of sculpture, even though the painting and archaeology collections continued to grow until the Second World War brought them to a halt. The museum was looted and many of the works in the original collection still remain unaccounted for. After the war, French sculptures of the late 19th and early 20th centuries were completely discredited and remained so for many years. Ultimately, the building reverted to its museum function in 1974 in order to present the findings of local archaeological excavations. Then, in 1978, Jacques Piette was appointed curator and undertook colossal work to inventory, study, restore and showcase the collections. The buildings were renovated and the restored sculpture gallery was opened in 1995.

In July 2013, view of the Claudel house’s recently renovated façade.

The Musée Camille Claudel in early 2015, revealing its fully renovated roofing.

The Musée Camille Claudel in July 2015, a few months prior to the building’s completion.

The musée Camille Claudel before the opening © Marco Illuminati

Birth of the Camille Claudel Museum 

In 2003, a Camille Claudel exhibition was organized in Nogent-sur-Seine with the collections compiled by Reine-Marie Paris, the artist’s great-niece, and Philippe Cressent. Its outstanding success - some 40,000 visitors in three months - sparked the idea of setting up a new ambition for the Dubois-Boucher Museum by establishing a substantial Camille Claudel collection. Two initial works were acquired: an Étude pour la Tête d’Hamadryade (2006) and L’Implorante (small model) (2007), then, in 2008, Reine-Marie Paris and Philippe Cressent agreed to sell to the town the collections they had built up over many years of intensive research. The very same year, Perseus and the Gorgon, the artist’s only monumental marble sculpture, was acquired thanks to the patronage of several companies and the State’s participation (Fonds national du patrimoine). Finally, in 2008, the municipality purchased the house where Camille Claudel lived with her parents from 1876 to 1879. The foundations of the Camille Claudel Museum project were laid. Yves Bourel and then, from 2012, Françoise Magny, conceived a project that would combine the presentation of Camille Claudel’s career with a sense of context. The first part of the tour presents a panorama of French sculpture in the era of Camille Claudel, thanks to the Dubois-Boucher museum’s collection and some sixty exhibits donated by fifteen different institutions. The collection has been restored to its former glory thanks to a comprehensive restoration campaign and the interior designed by the architect Adelfo Scaranello.

Cloakroom

Freely accessible cloakrooms are made available during your visit (a 1-euro coin is needed for the locker). For safety reasons, the lockers are opened and emptied each evening. The museum may not be held responsible for any theft or damage.

Audioguides

The Camille Claudel Museum offers guided visits, information sheets about the galleries as well as audio guides providing additional information about the collections. Audio guides, equipped with a magnetic buckle, are available upon request at the Museum's reception desk and allow for accessing the multimedia resources in the course of the visit. They are designed with freedom and conviviality in mind so that everyone can visit at his or her own pace, listening to the commentary that suits the visitor, alone, with family or friends. The Museum offers a wide range of activities for individual visitors and families: discovery and thematic visits, family activities, live show and much more!

• Adult audio guides available in French, English and German (free)

• Family audio guide available in French only (free)

Mobile application

The mobile application of the Musée Camille Claudel provides users with the audio-guide commentary.

Boutique

The museum boutique offers a selection of books and items related to the oeuvre and life of Camille Claudel and the museum’s sculptural collections: museum guidebooks, exhibition catalogues, postcards, notebooks, etc. The boutique is located near the reception. 

Parking near the museum 

Two disabled-only parking spaces are located on Rue de l’Etape au vin.

Admission

Free admission for disabled visitors and persons accompanying them. Disabled visitors enjoy direct access to the entrance checkpoint and are kindly requested to present a valid disability card.

The museum is fully accessible to reduced-mobility visitors. Folding chairs and wheelchairs are made available upon simple request at the museum reception. In addition, audio guides equipped with an induction loop (for the hearing deficient) are also available upon request.

The museum welcomes all proposals for activities destined for disabled visitors, for persons benefitting from charitable, social-reinsertion and literacy programmes, and for persons undergoing medical treatment. The museum also offers tours and activities in LSF (French sign language) for the hearing-impaired.

For more information, please contact the booking office. 

Individual visitors

Tickets (permanent collections and temporary exhibition)

• Full-rate admission: €8 per person
• Reduced rate: €4,5 per person
• Free admission for visitors under 26 years of age
• Free admission for all visitors on the first Sunday of each month

Tickets valid for one day.

Annual membership card: €15

Combined ticket with the Château de la Motte-Tilly : €10 (valid 6 month from the purchase date)

Buy your tickets online

Free admissions*

• The first Sunday of each month for all visitors
• Teachers upon presentation of their Pass Education
• Young visitors under 26 years of age
• Scientific museum personnel
• ICOM members, upon presentation of their ICOM card
• Journalists holding a press card
• Students
• Job seekers
• RSA beneficiaries
• Beneficiaries of the minimum old-age pension
• The war disabled and persons accompanying them
• Disabled visitors and persons accompanying them
• Members of the Association Camille Claudel

Reduction*

• Holders of the Carte Famille Nombreuse for large families
• Seniors over 60 years of age

*To benefit from these conditions, visitors must present the appropriate document(s)

Guided tours for individual visitors

Full rate: €3 (in addition to regular admission, according to the applicable “individual visitor” rate)

Tours for adult groups (10 to 25 persons)

Guided tour of the permanent collections (1 hr 30 mins) : €60 fixed rate + €4 per person

Right to speak out loud for a lecturer-guide from outside the museum (excluding school groups, extracurricular groups and charity groups) : €10 fixed rate + €4 per person

Self-guided groups are required to rent headphones : €30 fixed rate

Visits for school groups

Summer hours – April 1 to Octobre 31

Tuesday to Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Closed on Mondays

Winter hours – Novembre 1 to March 31

Wednesday to Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Closed on Mondays and Tuesdays

We are closed on the following bank holidays:

• 1 January,
• 1 May,
• 1 November,
• 25 December

The museum remains open to the public on the other bank holidays not cited above, according to the regular opening days and hours.

The ticket office closes 30 minutes prior to the closing of the museum.

Coming by train

Nogent-sur-Seine SNCF station is barely one hour from the Gare de l’Est station in Paris.

The Camille Claudel Museum is ten minutes on foot from the railway station.

Coming by car

Located 1 hr 20 mins from the French capital, the Musée Camille Claudel benefits from major trunk roads linking Nogent-sur-Seine with Paris via the A5 motorway (exit no. 18), Troyes via the D619 secondary road (1 hr), Reims via the D951 (1 hr 45 mins), Sens via the D939 (45 mins) and Provins via the D619 (20 mins).

Free parking spaces are available at the Parking Fournier car park (1 Rue Paul Fournier, 10400 Nogent-sur-Seine) and at the church car park in the town centre.

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