Our Favorite Museums Offer Amazing Workshops

Going to a museum to visit exhibitions — that, we’ve done. But did you know that your favorite cultural venues offer creative workshops all year round? It’s the best cultural outing to enjoy on your own, with friends, or with family. Whether you want to discover Greek art at the Louvre, meditate at the Jean-Jacques Henner Museum, learn to sculpt at the Rodin Museum, take part in a tea ceremony at the Guimet Museum, or create your own model at the Musée d’Orsay, this is the place to be!

 

Musée Jean-Jacques Henner

Vinyasa yoga class : what if you rolled out your mat in a 19th-century mansion? At the Musée national Jean-Jacques Henner, Camille Voituriez guides you through an all-level vinyasa class in the heart of the winter garden, followed by a meditation session facing the painter’s works. A complete change of scenery, without ever leaving Paris.
Saturdays until June 20, €20. Online booking.

 

Musée d’Orsay

One hundred percent Van Gogh : there’s no age limit when it comes to discovering Van Gogh’s colorful works! Little budding painters can learn to recreate the Dutch artist’s wheat fields or sunflower bouquets after a visit to the permanent collections. A must.
For children aged 6 to 12 until August 25, €6. Online booking.

Model-making workshop : your child, a curator? At the Musée d’Orsay, little aspiring architects imagine and build a scale model of an exhibition room, before installing a miniature reproduction of a work from the collections. A guided tour in front of the originals is included to better understand what they are recreating.
For children aged 9 to 12 until August 12, €6. Online booking.

 

Musée du Louvre

Drawing in the garden : rediscover the delightful Tuileries Garden with this drawing workshop. The goal: sketch your most beautiful drawings of plants, trees, and statues, and rival the Louvre’s greatest masterpieces by drawing in the bright sunshine.
Every other Saturday at 10 a.m., €12. Online booking.

Life drawing workshop : put your phone down, grab a pencil, and step into the shoes of a real artist! At the Louvre, visitors are introduced to life drawing after exploring the represented and idealized bodies in the collections, and leave with their own study sheet under their arm. Mondays at 2 p.m. and Wednesdays at 5:30 p.m. from April 20 to July 8, €12. Online booking.

 

Musée Guimet

Tea ceremony : no need to travel all the way to Japan to take part in a tea ceremony. Head to the splendid garden of the Hôtel d’Heidelbach to experience one of the most refined aspects of the Japanese art of living, according to the traditions of the Omotesenke school or the Urasenke school of Japanese tea ceremony.
For adults, on Saturdays May 16 and 30, and June 13, €18. Online booking.

Origami workshop : one sheet of paper, two hands — and suddenly, you become an artist! Origami is the Japanese art of paper folding: poetic, clever, and incredibly satisfying. Children leave with their own creations: flower garlands, paper animals… and an unexpected amount of patience. On Saturday, May 23, €35. Online booking.

© Musée Guimet

 

Musée Rodin

The Rodin Workshop is reopening its doors for a fifth season in the heart of the sublime Musée Rodin. The key words are: play, create, move! Before or after visiting the museum and its lush garden, head to this large and unique space inviting both children and adults (from age 3 and up) to discover and understand Auguste Rodin’s work through several themes.

What’s new this year is the opening of the “Au Labo!” area, inviting visitors to discover sculpture in all its forms, through 5 activities: in the “Touche-à-tout” space, you learn how to model; in “À vos crayons”, you try life-size drawing; with “En mouvement!”, you dance. Finally, you can sit down and read in “Quelle Histoire !”, or join a session to create games with “En forme!”

Open from Tuesday to Sunday until August 31 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Free entry, no reservation, with an adult holding a museum entrance ticket. Online information.

Also discover 3 Great Reasons to Return to the Jacquemart-André Museum and Segantini’s Stunning Alpine Landscapes Take Over the Marmottan 

 

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