The Thinker of Rodin

Auguste Rodin (1840-1918)

This work, which is famous throughout the world, is undoubtedly one of the pinnacles of Rodin’s art. It was not created as an isolated figure, but as a part of the monumental gate, the so-called Gate of Hell, which the government ordered from Rodin in 1880 for the future Paris Museum of Decorative Arts. It was not produced in bronze until after his death.
The Thinker dominates the Gate of Hell, where he personifies Dante, the Italian poet an author of The Divine Comedy, of which the Gate of Hell are actually a partial illustration. But Rodin quickly gave a more general significance to the work by exhibiting it in an isolated version and producing it in various dimensions, up the monumental size.

The influence of sculpture from the Italian Renaissance period, in particular that of Michelangelo, is obvious in this figure, which was also inspired by certain 19th century masterpieces like Carpeaux’s Ugolin, of which Rodin had a copy. It’s powerful anatomy expresses such an intense inner concentration that the work has become the universal symbol of human thought.

The words «Reproduction - musée Rodin - Paris» will guarantee the authenticity of the reproduction. © Musée Rodin - Paris