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The Thinker, bronze cast by Alexis Rudier, Laeken Cemetery, Brussels, Belgium

The Thinker (French: Le Penseur) is one of Auguste Rodin's famous bronze sculptures. It depicts a man in sober meditation battling with a powerful internal struggle.

Originally named The Poet, the piece was part of a commission by the Museum of Decorative Arts in Paris to create a monumental portal based on The Divine Comedy of Dante. Each of the statues in the piece represented one of the main characters in the epic poem. The Thinker was originally meant to depict Dante in front of the Gates of Hell, pondering his great poem. The sculpture is naked as Rodin wanted a heroic figure à la Michelangelo to represent thinking as well as poetry.

Rodin made a first small plaster version around 1880.

The first large-scale bronze cast was was finished in 1902, but was not presented to the public until 1904. It became the property of the city of Paris thanks to a subscription organised by Rodin admirers and was put in front of the Panthéon in 1906. In 1922, however, it was moved to the Hôtel Biron, transformed into a Rodin Museum.

Over twenty casts of the sculpture are in museums around the world. Some of these copies are enlarged versions of the original work, as well as, sculptures of different proportions.

See also

• The Gates of Hell

External link

• The Thinker project, Munich. Discussion of the history of the many casts of this artwork.