The Thinker
"The Thinker" (originally titled "The Poet", after Dante) was to become one of the most well-known sculptures in the world. The original was a high bronze piece created between 1879 and 1889, designed for the "Gates"' lintel, from which the figure would gaze down upon Hell. While "The Thinker" most obviously characterizes Dante, aspects of the Biblical Adam, the mythological Prometheus, and Rodin himself have been ascribed to him. Other observers de-emphasize the apparent intellectual theme of "The Thinker", stressing the figure's rough physicality and the emotional tension emanating from it.