| Immediately east of Les Invalides is the Musée Rodin, on the corner of rue de Varenne, at no. 77 (daily except Mon: April–Sept 9.30am–5.45pm, garden closes at 6.45pm; Oct–March 9.30am–4.45pm, garden closes at 5pm; 5, garden only 1; M° Varenne). The museum's setting is superbly elegant, a beautiful eighteenth-century mansion which the sculptor leased from the state in return for the gift of all his work upon his death. Bronze versions of major projects like The Burghers of Calais, The Thinker, The Gate of Hell and Ugolino and His Sons are exhibited in the garden – the latter forming the centrepiece of the ornamental pond. Things get even better inside – the vigorous energy of the sculptures contrasting with the worn wooden panelling of the boisieries and the tarnished mirrors and chandeliers. It's usually very crowded with visitors eager to see much-loved works like The Hand of God and The Kiss – originally designed to portray Paolo and Francesca da Rimini, from Dante's Divine Comedy – but it's well worth lingering by the vibrant, impressionistic clay works, small studies that Rodin took from life. In fact, most of the works here are in clay or plaster, as these are considered to be Rodin's finest achievements – after completing his apprenticeship, he rarely picked up a chisel, in line with the common nineteenth century practice of delegating the task of working up stone and bronze versions to assistants. Instead, he would return to his plaster casts again and again, modifying and refining them and sometimes leaving them deliberately "unfinished". On the ground floor, there's a room devoted to Camille Claudel, Rodin's pupil, model and lover. Among her works is The Age of Maturity, symbolising her ultimate rejection by Rodin, and a bust of the artist himself. Claudel's perception of her teacher was so akin to Rodin's own that he considered it as his self-portrait. The rest of rue de Varenne and the parallel rue de Grenelle is full of aristocratic mansions, including the Hôtel Matignon, the prime minister's residence. At 61 rue de Grenelle, a handsome eighteenth-century house has been turned into the Musée Maillol (daily except Tues 11am–6pm; 7; M° Rue-du-Bac), overstuffed with sculptor Aristide Maillol's endlessly buxom female nudes, copies of which stand in the Louvre's Jardin du Carrousel. His most famous work, the seated Mediterranean with its simple, smooth curves, can be found on the first floor at the top of the stairs. The exhibits belong to Dina Vierny, Maillol's former model and inspiration, and works by other contemporaries are also collected here, including drawings by Matisse, Dufy and Bonnard, for whom Dina also modelled; humorously erotic paintings by Bombois; and the odd Picasso, Degas, Gauguin and Kandinsky. The museum also organizes excellent exhibitions of twentieth-century art among which have been Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. From the Musée Maillol, rue du Bac leads south into rue de Sèvres, cutting across rue de Babylone, another of the Septième's livelier streets, which begins with the city's oldest department store, Au Bon Marché, renowned for its food halls, and ends with the crazy, rich man's folly La Pagode, at no. 57bis. The building was brought over from Japan at the turn of the century and for a long time was used as an arts cinema; it has recently been renovated, with a café in the Japanese garden inside.
| 
