Image: public domain, courtesy of Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington

The Thinker

Auguste Rodin, 1880 (cast 1901)

Rodin first imagined this figure as the poet Dante, sitting above a huge bronze doorway called “The Gates of Hell”. Rodin said his Thinker thinks with his whole body, with every muscle of his arms, back and legs.

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Did you know?

More than fifty casts in this size are known; it matches Rodin’s original clay model, about 70 cm tall.
Rodin first showed it as The Poet; by 1896 it was known simply as The Thinker.
In 1904 it was enlarged to about 1.8 metres, and in 1906 a giant cast was placed outside the Panthéon in Paris.
A large Thinker sits on the tomb of Rodin and his wife, Rose, in the garden of their home at Meudon.
Mr. and Mrs. John W. Simpson of New York bought this cast from Rodin himself in 1903.
Look closely at the pose: his right elbow rests on his left knee, which twists his whole body.

About the artist

Auguste Rodin (1840–1917) was born in Paris and worked there and in nearby Meudon.

Often called the father of modern sculpture, he is famous for The Thinker, first imagined as the poet Dante, as well as The Kiss and The Burghers of Calais.

The École des Beaux-Arts turned him down three times, yet he never gave up and worked for years as a decorative craftsman until his talent was recognized.

Auguste Rodin ›

Where it is today: Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington · Museum page