| The Thinker | |
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Other Names |
The Thinker (English), Le Penseur (French) |
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First Appearance |
The Gates of Hell (1880) |
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Created by |
Auguste Rodin |
Origin[]
The Thinker (French: Le Penseur), by Auguste Rodin, is a bronze sculpture situated atop a stone pedestal depicting a nude male figure of heroic size sitting on a rock. He is seen leaning over, his right elbow placed on his left thigh, holding the weight of his chin on the back of his right hand. The pose is one of deep thought and contemplation, and the statue is often used as an image to represent philosophy.
Rodin conceived the figure as part of his work The Gates of Hell commissioned in 1880, but the first of the familiar monumental bronze castings was made in 1904, and is now exhibited at the Musée Rodin, in Paris.
There are 27 other known full-sized castings, in which the figure is approximately 185 cm (73 inches) high, though not all were made during Rodin's lifetime and under his supervision. There are various other versions, several in plaster, and studies and posthumous castings exist in a range of sizes.
Public Domain Appearances[]
All published appearances of the Thinker from before January 1, 1930 are public domain in the US.
Some notable appearances are listed below:
Public Domain Art Appearances[]
- The Gates of Hell (1880)
- The Thinker (1884) - Earliest bronze casting, has Florentine cap. Currently in the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne.
- The Thinker (1896) - Currently in the Musée d'Art et d'Histoire, Geneva.
- The Thinker (1901) - Currently in the National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.
- The Thinker (1902) - Added to the The Burrell Collection in 1922.
- The Thinker (1903) - Currently at the University of Louisville.
- The Thinker (1903) - Currently at the Detroit Institute of Arts.
- The Thinker (1904) - Earliest monumental. The statue was vandalized and later scrapped. Originally located in Panthéon, Latin Quarter, Paris.
- The Thinker (1904) - Currently at the Metropolitan Museum, New York.
- The Thinker (1904) - Currently at the Musée Rodin, Paris
- The Thinker (1904) - Currently at the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek.
- The Thinker (1904) - Currently at the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden.
- The Thinker (1904) - Currently at the National Museum, Poznań.
- The Thinker (1904) - Currently at the Strasbourg Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art.
- The Thinker (1906) - Currently at in the Private collection at Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts.
- The Thinker (1906) - Currently at the Laeken Cemetery, Brussels.
- The Thinker (1907) - Currently at Ca' Pesaro, Venice.
- The Thinker (1907) - Currently at the Congressional Plaza, Buenos Aires.
- The Thinker (1908) - Currently at Waldemarsudde, Sweden.
- The Thinker (1916) - Currently in a private collection since it was sold for $11.8 million in 2010.
- The Thinker (1916) - Currently at Rodin's tomb, Meudon.
- The Thinker (1916) - Currently at the Cleveland Museum of Art.
- The Thinker (1916) - Currently at the Musée Rodin at Meudon.