The Thinker
Artist: Auguste Rodin (French, 1840 - 1917)
Fabricator: Alexis Rudier (French, 1874 - 1952)
Date: 1880; probably cast ca. 1949
Medium: Bronze
Dimensions:
Overall (figure): 72 × 38 1/2 × 55 inches (182.88 × 97.79 × 139.7 cm)
Overall (base): 72 × 54 × 48 inches (182.88 × 137.16 × 121.92 cm)
Credit Line: Lent by the Board of Parks and Recreation Commissioners, Gift of Grant I. and Mathilde Rosenzweig
Object number: 4-1950
On view
Current Location:
G,
Donald J. Hall Sculpture Park
Gallery Label
This iconic sculpture is Rodin’s most famous work.
Originally it was conceived as a portrait of the poet
Dante (1265–1321) for a bronze door representing the
Gates of Hell in the Decorative Arts Museum, Paris.
Over time, it evolved into a more generic image
representing all poets or creators. Rodin emphasized
the figure’s powerful physical presence: “What makes
my thinker think is that he thinks not only with his
brain, with his knitted brow, his distended and
compressed lips, but with every muscle of his arms,
back and legs, with his clenched fist and gripping
toes.” This is one of several full-size bronze casts
of The Thinker.