The Thinker

(1880) 

Rodin never wanted to say anything about what his Thinker was thinking, but rather how he was thinking. ‘My Thinker notonly thinks with his brain, his frowened forehead, his wide open nostrils and tight lips; but with every muscle in his arms back and legs.’ The Thinker, one of the most famous works by Rodin, was originally part of The Gates Of Hell. Sitting in the Tympan, he oversees Hell, the judge over the people below him, he too is locked up! The Thinker was the first sculpture by Rodin to be publicly exhibited. It was erected in front of the Pantheon during an intense political and social crisis in France on the 21st April 1906. Later is was transported to the Hotel Biron, the former studios of the artist and the present Rodin Museum.