The crystal structure of palovarotene has been solved and refined using synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction data and optimized using density functional theory techniques. Palovarotene crystallizes in the space group P-1 (#2) with a = 10.2914(4), b = 11.8318(7), c = 11.9210(5) Å, α = 66.2327(11), β = 82.5032(9), γ = 65.3772(9)°, V = 1,206.442(28) Å3, and Z = 2 at 298 K. The crystal structure consists of chains of O–H···N hydrogen-bonded palovarotene molecules along the <0,−1,1 > axis; the graph set is C1,1(14). The powder pattern has been submitted to the International Centre for Diffraction Data® for inclusion in the Powder Diffraction File™ (PDF®).