The Thinker | Rodin Museum H. 189 cm ; W. 98 cm ; D. 140 cm S.2838 When conceived in 1880 in its original size (approx. 70 cm) as the crowning element of The Gates of Hell , seated on the tympanum , The Thinker was entitled The Poet. He represented Dante, author of the Divine Comedy which had inspired The Gates, leaning forward to observe the circles of Hell, while meditating on his work. The Thinker was therefore initially both a being with a tortured body, almost a damned soul, and a free-thinking man, determined to transcend his suffering through poetry. The pose of this figure owes much to Carpeaux’s Ugolino (1861) and to the seated portrait of Lorenzo de’ Medici carved by Michelangelo (1526-31). While remaining in place on the monumental Gates of Hell, The Thinker was exhibited individually in 1888 and thus became an independent work.

Enlarged in 1904, its colossal version proved even more popular: this image of a man lost in thought, but whose powerful body suggests a great capacity for action, has became one of the most celebrated sculptures ever known. Numerous casts exist worldwide, including the one now in the gardens of the Musée Rodin, a gift to the City of Paris installed outside the Panthéon in 1906, and another in the gardens of Rodin’s house in Meudon, on the tomb of the sculptor and his wife. George Bernard Shaw in the Pose of "The Thinker" Rodin, the Monument to Victor Hugo and The Thinker Rodin's "Thinker" in Dr Linde's Garden in Lübeck Rodin's The Thinker | Cleveland Museum of Art Home / Research / In the Library / Collection in Focus The Thinker, 1880-1881. Auguste Rodin (French, 1840-1917). Bronze, green patina; 182.9 x 98.4 x 142.2 cm.

Gift of Ralph King 1917.42 The Thinker, 1880-1881. Auguste Rodin (French, 1840-1917). Bronze, green patina; 182.9 x 98.4 x 142.2 cm. Gift of Ralph King 1917.42 Rodin's The Thinker, in front of the Cleveland Museum of Art 1916 Building, long view at night. Rodin's The Thinker, in front of the Cleveland Museum of Art 1916 Building, on a sunny day. Auguste Rodin (French, 1840-1917). The Thinker, c. 1880. Bronze; 70.8 x 34.93 x 59.69 cm. Gift of Alexandre P. Rosenberg 1979.138 Auguste Rodin (French, 1840-1917). The Age of Bronze, 1875-1876.

Bronze; 180.8 x 66.4 cm. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Ralph King 1918.328 A Rodin's The Thinker All told there are, twenty-five 72" enlarged versions of Auguste Rodin's The Thinker. Of these, fewer than ten were cast and patinated during his lifetime. One of the last Rodin-supervised casts can be found in Cleveland, Ohio, where it sits directly in front of the Cleveland Museum of Art. This cast was acquired in 1916, and given to the Cleveland Museum of Art early in 1917. About The Thinker One of Auguste Rodin's most famous works, The Thinker was part of a commission for the Museum of Decorative Arts in Paris. Although the museum was never built, the commission for the doors was begun, though never completed. The Gates of Hell is considered one of Rodin's masterworks. Rodin worked for approximately ten years on the conception, construction, and arrangement of the Gates of Hell.

Each of the main figures included was originally designed to represent one of the main characters in hell in Dante's epic poem of 1321, The Divine Comedy. The Thinker, initially intended to represent Dante himself, was originally positioned by Rodin at the top of the doorjamb, contemplating the scene below. In the nearly ten years that Rodin worked on the Gates of Hell, he changed the format of the images several times. Often he would re-work one or more of the main sculptural groups, or remove them from the door's composition altogether. The Thinker, although not frequently included in these re-workings, was removed from the doors once, along with all of the other protruding sculptural elements, when the doors were displayed in 1900. Several of the sculptures designed for the Gates of Hell - especially The Thinker and The Kiss - became well known as sculptures independent of the original project. The Thinker was originally entitled Le Poète (The Poet) by Rodin. He changed the title to Le Poète/Le Pensure (The Poet/ The Thinker), and then finally to Le Pensure (The Thinker).

The enlargement of the original 27" version of the sculpture was not difficult thanks to the help of an enlarging mechanism called the colas machine and the assistance of Henri Lebosse. Using the process that Lebosse developed, Rodin's original model could be "traced" onto another block of clay, and in the process, enlarged or reduced. Tradition of Outdoor, Public Placement Although created for the Gates of Hell, The Thinker took on an alternate significance and became a symbol of freedom and knowledge. After its first exhibition, a public petition was circulated to have the 72" sculpture purchased and donated to the people of France. After its purchase in 1906, the initial enlarged version of Rodin's The Thinker was placed outside of the Pantheon in Paris, where it stayed until 1922. It was later removed from its original placement because it was said to create an obstacle to public events, and, also because it had taken on socialist connotations. It was subsequently transported to the Musee Rodin, in the former Hotel Biron. There the statue sits today on its original pedestal in the exterior gardens of the museum.

There is also another version of The Thinker located over the grave of Auguste and Rose Rodin. Auguste Rodin placed it there upon the death of his wife, and when he passed away in 1917, he was also buried below it. Because the original Gates of Hell were designed as outdoor sculpture, and Rodin's first enlargement was placed outdoors in front of the Pantheon, most of Rodin's subsequent enlargements have ended up outdoors as well. Unfortunately this leaves these works unprotected from both the elements and the public. Location of the Original Reproductions All told there are twenty-five castings of the enlarged version of Rodin's The Thinker. Of these, less than ten were cast and patinated during his lifetime. Two of these early examples can currently be found in Paris, one in the Hotel Biron, which is currently the Musée Rodin, and one that is directly over the Rodin gravesite. One of the last Rodin-supervised casts can be found in Cleveland, Ohio, where it sits directly in front of the Cleveland Museum of Art. This cast was acquired in 1917, just after the museum opened to the public.

The twenty remaining castings of The Thinker were done posthumously. At least seven or eight of these were from the original series of enlargements that Rodin had begun before his death. The remainder were part of a recast edition sanctioned by Auguste Rodin and undertaken by the Musee Rodin in 1960. Rather curiously, there seems to be at least one unauthorized casting of this figure that is currently housed in Germany at the Kunsthalle Richard Kaselowsky-Haus, Bielifield. WHERE TO FIND THE THINKER IN NORTH AMERICA Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, Maryland Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio Columbia Savings and Loan, Denver, Colorado Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, Michigan Allen R. Hite Art Institute, University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky Columbia University, New York, New York The Gerald B.

Cantor Sculpture Center, New York, New York The Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena, California The Rodin Museum of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, California Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, Maryland William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art, Kansas City, Missouri WHERE TO FIND THE THINKER AROUND THE WORLD Plaza del Congresso, Buenos Aires, Argentina Kunsthalle Richard Kaselowsky-Haus, Bielifield, Germany National Gallery, Berlin, German Kyoto National Museum, Kyoto, Japan Laeken, Belgium Cemetery State Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow, Russia Municipal Museum, Nagoya , Japan Prins Eugens Waldermarsudde, Stockholm, Sweden National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, Japan The Thinker Vandalized At approximately 1:00 am on March 24, 1970, a bomb irreparably damaged the Cleveland museum's version of The Thinker. The bomb itself had been placed on a pedestal that supported the enlargement and had the power of about three sticks of dynamite. No one was injured in the subsequent blast, but the statue's base and lower legs were destroyed.

The remaining sections of the cast were blown backward to form a 'plume' at the base, and the entire statue was knocked to the ground. It was reported that this attack was undertaken by a radical political group, perhaps as a commentary on the continuing military action in Vietnam or the elitism of the American government. Regardless, no one was ever arrested or charged with the destruction. However, the incident highlighted several conservation issues related directly to artistic intent. Since the piece was so dramatically damaged, the museum was unsure how to proceed. One idea was to create an entirely new cast to replace the damaged work. Another idea was to restore the sculpture by recasting elements of Rodin's original. Finally, however, it was decided that the statue should not be repaired, but placed outside the museum in its damaged condition. Conservation Issues The museum's large cast of The Thinker has a unique history that highlights some of the ethical and practical issues inherent in the field of conservation. Cast under Rodin's direct supervision, the large version of The Thinker was purchased from the artist by Clevelander Ralph T. King who donated it to the museum in 1917.

First displayed in the museum's rotunda, it was soon moved outside, to the museum's south entrance. Once the sculpture was outdoors, its surface began to corrode almost immediately, changing the color and appearance of the metal. Over the years, hand-rubbing, wax, and commercial oil preparations were used to protect it. Then, in 1970, the sculpture was severely damaged by a dynamite explosion. According to the Cleveland Police Department, this act of vandalism was committed by a cell of the politically radical Weather Underground that was operating in Cleveland at the time. In the aftermath of the bombing, the museum considered three options: 1) obtain and display a replacement cast; 2) repair the sculpture by welding on newly cast sections to replace the areas that were damaged; 3) mount and display the damaged sculpture. All three options were problematic in some way. With the first, a new cast of the complete sculpture would be removed historically from the original, which was so closely connected with the artist. A recast would in essence be a reproduction. With the second, distortions caused by the dynamite blast would have made it difficult to align the replacement sections with those original sculpture.

The third option was chosen largely because it preserved what was left of Rodin's original work and because the damaged sculpture would bear vivid witness to a period of political unrest in the United States during the Vietnam War. Like the museum's other outdoor sculptures, The Thinker now receives routine maintenance twice a year. It is washed and rewaxed each spring and fall. An interesting comparison can be made with the musem's small version of The Thinker. Also cast in the late 19th century under Rodin's direct supervision, this work has remained indoors, in the controlled environment of the museum, and is in excllent condition. The original surface and artistic intention have been preserved. Related Sculptures at the Museum Aside from the Cleveland Museum of Art's large cast of The Thinker, there are several other sculptures in the museum's collection that directly relate to Rodin's plans for the Gates of Hell. The museum owns two smaller versions of The Thinker, 27 inches and 14 inches respectively. There is also the Embracing Couple, which like much of the door's imagery, was inspired by Dante's Divine Comedy.

The museum also has several sculptures that may have been studies for the tangled mass of figures that surround the door including Les Dammes and the Fallen Angels. Rodin as a 19th-Century Sculptor The mid-19th century sculptor August Rodin was greatly influenced by the expressive and innovative sculpture of the Early and High Renaissance and Mannerism. The work of Michaelangelo (1475-1564), Dontato Bramante (1444-1514), and Lorenzo Ghiberti (1378-1455) were his inspirations, and he sought to create dramatic, refined sculptures patterned after their works. Commissioned sculptural groups like the Burghers of Calais and the Gates of Hell clearly show Rodin's debt to the Renaissance and his commitment to the expressive qualities of his medium. Rodin clearly influence visual artists who came after him with his expressive style and tactile handling of the clay and wax used to create his initial models. Rodin was not alone in his experimental handling of the sculptural form.

Edgar Degas (1834-1917), in particular, was clearly interested in new and expressive ways to model human and animal motion. There were also a number of decorative artists who called on Rodin's skills as a sculptor for both assistance and inspiration in their own works. Collection in Focus Category: Top 10 Famous Sculptures - EnkiVillage Top 10 Famous Sculptures References For many centuries, famous artists have offered humanity with unbelievable things. Most importantly, sculpting art has taken a center stage. Man has continued to create famous sculptures since time in memorial. For various reasons, these sculptures have been created in different sizes. The initial Seven Wonders of World has two statues: The Colossus of Rhodes and The Statue of Zeus at Olympia. At present, statues have been created around the world and have continued to represent everything from various religious deities, influential individuals and historical events. Top 10 Famous Sculptures Sculptor: Michelangelo Buonarroti Location: Florence, Italy David was done by Michelangelo, an Italian artist. Located at Florence in Italy, David is a regeneration work of art that was shaped between 1501 and 1504.

The sculpture is a 5.17 meters marble statue standing stark-naked and is considered a representation of the Biblical David, a highly esteemed subject in Florence art. Initially, the sculpture was commissioned among a series which was to be placed high up on the Florence Cathedral façade; while in fact, it was taken to the public square at the Palazzo Della Signoria. This was the civic government seat in Florence from where it was revealed on September 8, 1504. 2 Sculptor: Alezandros of Antioch Location: The Louvre Museum, Paris, France Based on the information found on the sculpture’s base, Venus de Milo was initially thought to have been shaped by Alexandros from Antioch. At first, it was erroneously credited to the chief sculptor Praxiteles. What has surprised many is the allegation that it was found inadvertently in a farmer’s field. Venus de Milo artifact was shaped long ago between 100 and 130 B.C. Currently Venus de Milo is displayed at the Louvre Museum, Paris. The sculpture, a marble structure standing 2.03 meters high, is believed to represent Aphrodite, a Greek beauty and love goddess.

The original base and arms have been lost. 3 Sculptor: Auguste Rodin Location: Musee Rodin The Thinker was first done in 1880 and cast in 1901. Initially, it was known as the Poet and was part of a directive by Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris to shape an epic portal to be used as the museum gateway. Named The Gates of Hell, all the statutes originated from The Divine Comedy of Dante. The Thinker, made from bronze, finally presented itself in a miniature on top of the Gates of Hell pondering the fate of those beneath him, which is different from Rodin's original idea of depicting Dante reflecting over his poem in front of the Gates. As desired by the sculptor, the artifact is nude since he wanted a daring figure in the customs of Michelangelo to be a representation of both poetry and intellect. 4 Sculptor: Michelangelo Buonarroti Location: St. Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City Pieta is a marble structure shaped up by Michelangelo Buonarroti between 1498 and 1499. The sculpture is a representation of Jesus Christ in the arms of Mary, his mother.

This is one of the remarkable sculptures that brought Michelangelo to light. During this time, Michelangelo was barely 20 years old when he was asked to come up with a sculpture of Virgin Mary with her son in hes arms. With nearly 2 years, Michelangelo managed to explored the utmost of his talent as well as the potential of the single slab of marble and thus brought one of the most famous sculptures to this world. 5 Time: 1250 AD - 1500 AD Sculptor: Polynesian Colonizers Location: Easter Island, Chile The world famous sculptures Moai are believed to be a representation of deceased ancestors as well as the incarnation of powerful living of the previous chiefs. The tallest of them all is Paro which is 10 meters high with a weight of 75,000kg. The heaviest of all weighs 86,000kg. By the time the Europeans visited the land, they were still standing but some have been cast down as clans clashed. After some re-erection and restoration, there are about 50 moai on Easter Isalnd and museums elsewhere.

6 Sculptor: Paul Landowski, Heitor da Silva Costa Location: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Situated on top of the 700 meters high Corcovado Mountain, the sculpture offers a sweeping panorama from the Guanabara Bay interior towards the North and to Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas facing south. Christ the Redeemer stands out 39.6 meters high on a 9.5 meters base and 30 metres wide and it compares to the Cristo de la Concordia statue in Bolivia in terms of height. Primarily, it is a Christianity symbol that has been a renowned statue and an important portrait for Rio and Brazil at large. 7 Sculptor: Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi Location: New York The sculpture is found in New York though it was initially made in France. Essentially, it is a gift for the French people to celebrate the centenary of the United States Declaration of Independence signing. Standing on Liberty Island, it is among the most famous sculptures and symbols in the world. The statue shows a woman in a stola, wearing sandals and a shiny crown. The woman is trampling a loose chain and has a torch in her right hand raised high.

She is also holding a tabula ansata tablet. For centuries, the Statue of Liberty was the first thing in sight for millions of immigrants who came to the United States. 8 Sculptor: Pharaoh Khafre Location: Giza, Egypt The creator of the great Sphinx statue is not known clearly. However, there are unsubstantiated reports that it was constructed in about 2500 BC by the pharaoh Khafre, who was believed to have built the second pyramid located at Giza. Again, when it was shaped is still under discussion because other reports indicate 3001 BC and the face model which it represents is also not known. Located at the Giza plateau in Cairo, Egypt, the great sphinx is among the oldest and largest world statues. Though considerably small in size compared to the surrounding pyramids, The Great Sphinx is the world’s biggest monolith statue.

9 Sculptor: Chinese government laborers and local craftsmen Location: Lintong District, Xi’an, Shaanxi Province, China Discovered by local farmers in 1974, the Terracotta Army is believed to have been constructed by about 700,000 workers dating back to the end of the 3rd century BCE (about 246 BCE). The Terracotta Army, also known as the Terracotta Warriors and Horses, is a terracotta statues collection representing the armies of China’s 1st emperor—Qin Shi Huang. The statues are of different heights representative of their roles in the army. The statues include chariots, warriors and horses. It is a form of funerary art of ancient China in which the king wished to continue his reign in his afterlife. 10 Who is Rodin's Thinker? Who is Rodin's Thinker? One of the finest collections of Auguste Rodin's work - models and bronzes - will go on display at the Royal Ontario Museum on Sept. 20. This is good news for art lovers, especially in Canada.

After touring the world, the collection will be installed in a new museum in the Ontario town of Barrie. The museum will be the centerpiece of a proposed "Art City" devoted to housing fine art exhibits on tour. Rodin's gorgeous bronze and marble sculptures - erotically charged or tormented and defeated - are surely the perfect choice for such a venture. Rodin is the Wagner of modern sculpture; he is one of those rare artists whose work speaks to the deep longings in most people, yet one whose work repays repeated visits and study. Discriminating viewers will be struck by the haunting depth of vision and the artist's impeccable craftsmanship. Rodin is also one of those artists who form a bridge between the Romanticism of the 19th century and the Modernism of the 20th, allowing us to see how we arrived at where we are now. A good example is his first bust, The Man With the Broken Nose (1864), inspired by an old workman with a smashed in nose who yet had some of the features of a Greek bust. For the first time a sculptor took as his model not the perfection of classical sculpture but its present day fragmentary condition.

Almost all busts that survive from antiquity have broken noses, just as most antique statues have lost heads, hands and other extremities. Rainer Maria Rilke, who was Rodin's secretary for a time, may have been inspired by his fragments to write one of his greatest poems - The Archaic Torso . Unfortunately there is a side of Rodin's work that has become kitsch through cheap reproductions and commercial rip-offs. This includes some of his best pieces like The Three Shades , and especially The Thinker . Cultural kitsch has a way of containing long lost loveliness, if you know how to rub off the patina hiding the bronze. I asked a group of savvy art students and cognoscenti who The Thinker was. A few graduate students thought it could be a famous philosopher, perhaps Plato, or even Nietzsche's Superman; I reminded them that Nietzsche was unknown to the world when Rodin created The Thinker, and Plato wasn't even close. A few said it reminded them of the young Marlon Brando with his perfect body from his Streetcar Named Desire days.

One wit said it was the young Brando in one of his heavy sessions at the Actors Studio, all naked and angst ridden, doing a philosopher manqué: "I could have been a think -er." Rodin's Story Auguste Rodin (b. 1840, Paris) was a poor boy with a rich talent for drawing who trained at the École Spéciale de Dessin et de Mathématique, a school with a mission to educate the designers and the artisans of the French nation. He was rejected three times by the École des Beaux Arts, the official art school of France. Rejection proved to be fortunate for this young artist because it forced him to find work among the commercial decorators and ornamental craftsmen of Paris. He was especially lucky to find employment in the studio of Carrier-Belleuse . Carrier-Belleuse had a sharp sense of how to combine historical themes with new technologies and the process of mass production. During and after the Franco-Prussian War, Carrier-Belleuse took his young apprentice to Brussels to help build public monuments commissioned by the Belgian Government.

A trip to Italy in 1875 further opened Rodin's eyes to the achievement of the past: Michelangelo, Donatello and Ghilberti. "Michelangelo saved me from academicism," he later noted. Michelangelo's magnificent young male aristocrats, muscular ignudi, grave prophets, enigmatic sibyls, heroic biblical figures, and his tormented, terrified and hell-bound sinners were to haunt Rodin's imagination for the rest of his life. In turn, Rodin's imagination revived the nearly dead art of sculpture in the late 19th century and provided inspiration for artists of the 20th century. Rodin's vision of man in his misery and greatness found its center when he received a commission from the French Government to create a portal for the entrance to the Museum of Decorative Art. The theme of the portal was Dante's Divine Comedy . Whether or not Rodin had read Dante before this commission is unimportant: the brooding presence of this other great Florentine inspired and overwhelmed him, as he sat down to read and prepare hundreds of sketches for the work. The 19th century rediscovered Dante's poetry as well as many other things about the Middle Ages.

For the first time since the Renaissance, Europe was receptive to the works and the spirit of its Christian past. Compared to the failures of the Age of Reason, especially post-Napoleonic Europe, the Middle Ages seemed like an era of spiritual health and artistic greatness. The Divine Comedy, considered to be the greatest marriage of European poetry and philosophy, and rivaled only by the pagan epics of Homer and Virgil, became a bestseller. Auguste Rodin had a passion for the Inferno; Dante's journey through hell was his inspiration, visualizing the characters became his career. Then on a trip to London in 1882 Rodin discovered his British contemporaries, the so-called Pre-Raphaelite painters. These Painters had already turned to illustrating Dante. In this they were influenced by William Blake (1757-1827), poet and visual artist extraordinary who had created a remarkable series of illustrations for "the greatest poem ever written" . Rodin studied Blake's illustrations of Dante on his return to Paris, thus enlarging his vision and ambitions.

(We cannot overlook the influence of the first great illustrator of the Divine Comedy, Botticelli, who was the favorite of the Pre-Raphaelites as well as a strong influence on Blake's linear style.) The combination of Dante's epic, Blake's drawings and the gigantic example of Michelangelo proved to be a potent cocktail, fueling Rodin for the next 40 years. Furthermore, it pushed him in the opposite direction from the painters of his period - the Salon favorites and the Impressionists and the Post-Impressionists . Thus the project expanded. Rodin took to calling the portal project The Gates of Hell. By using this title, he linked his doors with a famous work of the Renaissance: Ghilberti's Doors for the Florence Baptistery, which illustrate scenes from the Old Testament. These doors, which Michelangelo carefully studied, are known as the Gates of Paradise. But the twisted and anguished figures come from Michelangelo's Last Judgment. Rodin never completed the huge work The Gates of Hell in a definitive form (he worked on it intermittently until 1900 and the museum never came into being in its proposed form), but he poured some of his finest creative energy into it.

Even unfinished and unfinishable it served as a kind of matrix from which Rodin could draw as many as 200 individual pieces including such well-known works as The Kiss and The Thinker. The Thinker was originally meant to be Dante in front of the Gates of Hell, pondering his great poem. Dante as a voluptuous naked male may seem absurd to those who think of the images painted in his time and after, but Dante's head does bear some resemblance to the profile of The Thinker. Moreover, Dante's headdress is distinctive and seems to be indicated by the markings Rodin made on his working copy of The Thinker . Why is The Thinker naked? Because Rodin wanted a heroic figure à la Michelangelo to represent Thinking as well as Poetry. Rodin's Answer Rodin himself wrote about his intention: The Thinker has a story. In the days long gone by I conceived the idea of the Gates of Hell. Before the door, seated on the rock, Dante thinking of the plan of the poem behind him... all the characters from the Divine Comedy. This project was not realized. Thin ascetic Dante in his straight robe separated from all the rest would have been without meaning.

Guided by my first inspiration I conceived another thinker, a naked man, seated on a rock, his fist against his teeth, he dreams. The fertile thought slowly elaborates itself within his brain. He is no longer a dreamer, he is a creator. The work of Rodin resonates with the great aspirations of the 19th century, the century of Darwin, Marx and Wagner. But in his equation, The Thinker = the Poet = the Creator, Rodin was way ahead of his time. The greatest German Philosopher of the 20th century, Martin Heidegger, only began to formulate this equation in the 1930's in such works as "The Thinker as Poet", "What are Poets For?" and "...Man Dwells Poetically". Now it is a commonplace of humanities departments, repeated endlessly by such luminaries as Derrida, Lyotard, Richard Rorty and their followers. Discover dozens of works by this artist on the Artcyclopedia page for Auguste Rodin . This article is copyright 2001 by Joseph Phelan. Please do not republish any portion of this article without written permission.

Joseph Phelan can be contacted at joe.phelan@verizon.net Past Articles Top 10 Greatest Sculptures - Listverse Top 10 Greatest Sculptures Reid B. Spencer December 14, 2010 Over many centuries, great artists have provided humanity with incredible things. One of those incredible things is the art of sculpting. Continue reading to learn about these absolutely astounding works of art. 10 Bronze David Made in the 1440’s, by Donatello (1386-1466), Bronze David is one of the most famous sculptures today. It is notable as the first unsupported standing work in bronze cast during the Renaissance period, and the first freestanding nude male sculpture made since antiquity. It depicts the young David with an enigmatic smile, posed with his foot on Goliath’s severed head just after killing the giant. The youth is standing naked, apart from a laurel-topped hat and boots, bearing the sword of Goliath. There is also much speculation as to when it was built. Suggested dates vary from the 1420s to the 1460s, although the exact date is not known.

9 Savannah Bird Girl Statue The sculpture, known as the Bird Girl, was created in 1936, by sculptress Sylvia Shaw Judson (1897-1978) in Lake Forest, Illinois. It achieved fame when it was featured on the cover of the 1994 novel, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. It was sculpted at Ragdale, the summer home of her family. Bird Girl is cast in bronze and stands 50 inches tall. She is the image of a young girl wearing a simple dress and a sad or contemplative expression, with her head tilted to the left. She stands straight, her elbows propped against her waist as she holds up two bowls out from her sides. The bowls are often described by viewers as “bird feeders.” 8 The Discus Thrower The Discus Thrower, or the Discobolus, is a famous lost Greek bronze original. The sculpture of it is still unknown. The Discobolus was completed towards the end of the severe period (460-450 BC).

It is known through numerous Roman copies, both full-scale ones in marble, such as the first to be recovered, the Palombara Discopolus, or smaller scaled versions in bronze. As always in Greek athletics, the Discus Thrower is completely nude. 7 The Kiss The Kiss is an 1889 marble sculpture by the French sculptor, Auguste Rodin (1840-1917). This sculpture has a interesting story to it. it depicts the 13th-century Italian noblewoman immortalized in Dante’s Inferno, who falls in love with her husband, Giovanni Malatesta’s, younger brother Paolo. Having fallen in love while reading the story of Lancelot and Guinevere, the couple are discovered and killed by Francesca’s husband. In the sculpture, the book can be seen in Paolo’s hand. The lover’s lips do not actually touch in the sculpture to suggest that they were interrupted, and met their demise without their lips ever having touched. When critics first saw the sculpture in 1887, they suggested the less specific title Le Baiser (The Kiss).

6 Hermes and The Infant Dionysus Hermes and the Infant Dionysus, also known as the Hermes of Praxiteles or the Hermes of Olympus, is an ancient Greek sculpture of Hermes and the infant Dionysus, discovered in 1877, in the ruins of the Temple of Hera at Olympia. It is displayed at the Archaeological Museum of Olympia. It is traditionally attributed to Praxiteles and dated to the 4th century BC, based on a remark by the 2nd century Greek traveler Pausanias, and has made a major contribution to the definition of Praxitelean style. Its attribution is, however, the object of fierce controversy among art historians. The sculpture is unlikely to have been one of Praxiteles’ famous works, as no ancient replicas of it have been identified. The documentary evidence associating the work with Praxiteles is based on a passing mention by the second-century AD traveler Pausanias. 5 Lady Justice The Lady Justice Sculpture is one of the greatest known sculptures in the world. This statue is not attributed to any one artist, but the fact that it adorns so many courthouses in the world has made it one of the more popular sculptures.

This sculpture goes by many names, including Scales of Justice and Blind Justice, but is most commonly known as Lady Justice. The statue dates all the way back to ancient Greek and Roman times as the Goddess of justice and law. 4 Pieta Created by Michelangelo (1475-1564), the Pieta depicts the Virgin Mary holding her only son, Jesus Christ, in her arms. Prior to sculpting the Pieta, Michelangelo was not a very known artist. He was only in his early twenties when he was told, in 1498, to do a life sized sculpture of the Virgin Mary holding her son in her arms. In about two years, from a single slab of marble, Michelangelo created one of the most beautiful sculptures ever. 3 The Thinker Also from Auguste Rodin, is the famous sculpture “The Thinker.” Originally named The Poet, the piece was part of a commission by the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris to create a monumental portal to act as the door of the museum. Rodin based his theme on The Divine Comedy of Dante and entitled the portal The Gates of Hell. 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. (In the final sculpture, a miniature of the statue sits atop the gates, pondering the hellish fate of those beneath him.) The sculpture is nude, as Rodin wanted a heroic figure in the tradition of Michelangelo, to represent intellect as well as poetry. 2 Venus de Milo The Venus de Milo sculpture was created sometime between 100 and 130 B.C. it is believed to depict Aphrodite (Venus to the Romans) the Greek goddess of love and beauty. It is a marble sculpture, slightly larger than life size at 203 cm (6 ft 8 in) high. Its arms and original plinth have been lost. From an inscription that was on its plinth, it is thought to be the work of Alexandros of Antioch; it was earlier mistakenly attributed to the master sculptor Praxiteles. It is at present on display at the Louvre Museum in Paris. Amazingly, the statue was discovered accidentally in a farmer’s field.

1 David “David” is a masterpiece of Renaissance sculpture created between 1501 and 1504, by the Italian artist Michelangelo. It is a 5.17 meter (17 feet) marble statue of a standing male nude. The statue represents the Biblical hero David, a favored subject in the art of Florence. Originally commissioned as one of a series to be positioned high up on the facade of Florence Cathedral, the statue was instead placed in a public square, outside the Palazzo Della Signoria, the seat of civic government in Florence, where it was unveiled on 8 September, 1504. Because of the nature of the hero that it represented, it soon came to symbolize the defense of civil liberties embodied in the Florentine Republic, an independent city-state threatened on all sides by more powerful rival states and by the hegemony of the Medici family. The eyes of David, with a warning glare, were turned towards Rome. The statue was moved to the Academia Gallery in Florence in 1873, and later replaced at the original location by a replica. Portions of this text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply.

Some text is derived from or courtesy of Wikipedia. More Great Lists The Thinker Analysis | artble.com The Thinker Analysis Auguste Rodin The style which Auguste Rodin developed throughout his professional life can in part be attributed to his artistic education or the lack of it in any formal capacity. When the young Rodin was rejected from the prestigious École des Beaux-Arts he missed out on the Neoclassical training which was still very much part of the curriculum at the school during this period. Without this strict training the artist was able to develop a much freer and more emotional style that would essentially be the making of his work. The Thinker is certainly a product of this unusual artistic development. Rodin's The Thinker was originally part of The Gates of Hell which was completed on commission in 1882. What became known as The Thinker was originally intended to represent the poet Dante as he contemplated writing The Divine Comedy, on which The Gates of Hell was based. When Rodin created this figure separately from the original work it lost its association with Dante and has become known all over the world as a symbol of philosophy and knowledge.

The Thinker Composition The Thinker Auguste Rodin Auguste Rodin created The Thinker in a way that mirrors the heroes of Michelangelo. The nude figure is muscular, taunt, and valiant. This demonstrates to the viewer the high regard with which Rodin held Dante and creative thinkers in general. The seating of the figure is interesting as it immediately invokes the contemplative mood of this piece that would have been hard to create were the man stood up or looking out into the distance. The hunched torso is simple but adds to the sense of power that is apparent but by no means threatening. Rodin's brilliance at representing the character and feeling of his sitters is beautifully displayed here. The Thinker Use of Technique Often completing preliminary sketches and models, Rodin would then leave the carving of the full size marble to one of his assistants. Finally, the artist would take control of the work to add finishing touches and make sure that the piece fitted his exacting standards. This process is how The Thinker would have been developed. The Thinker Mood, Tone and Emotion The contemplative look of The Thinker gives this sculpture a feeling of calm and yet this piece is by no means a frivolous or relaxed piece.

The Thinker conjures up images of intelligence and deep thought, themes that are universal in their appeal. Unlike some of Rodin's more complex or abstract works The Thinker is relatively simple in its design and this may go some way to explain its popularity. The Thinker Textures The Thinker was originally made in a much smaller form and when it was produced as a separate sculpture it was originally created in plaster. Bronze casts have been produced from the original ever since its completion. As Rodin became more successful he began to employ a host of assistants, all of whom had specific jobs to perform. The Thinker Perspective The original copy of The Thinker was not made on commission and therefore does not have an original place in which it was created to sit in the same way that other works by Rodin had. It's clear from the finish of the work however that this sculpture was supposed to be looked at in the round. Many of the bronze copies, as well as the original plasters for this piece have been displayed in a central position so that visitors can see it from every conceivable angle.

Auguste Rodin Page Menu The Thinker | artble.com The Thinker Auguste Rodin The Thinker was originally part of the compositional piece Rodin created as an entranceway for the proposed Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. This piece, known as The Gates of Hell, is based on the 16th century epic poem, The Divine Comedy by Dante. Many of Rodin's most famous works came out of this piece and The Thinker was originally intended to sit at the top of the door way and represent Dante, as he composed the poem. For this reason The Thinker was originally known as The Poet but as this piece began to gain precedence over The Gates of Hell, it became known as The Thinker and is today a commonly recognized symbol of philosophy and learning. During its use as a public monument in Paris from 1906 onwards, The Thinker became known as a symbol of the socialist movement in France during a time of political and social turmoil. The Thinker Inspirations Michelangelo There are several inspirations which influenced Rodin's creation of The Thinker. The foremost must be the work of Dante, the poet whom the figure was originally supposed to represent.

Stylistically the sculpture resembles the heroes of Michelangelo and the nude young men whom Rodin felt best to represent in a romantic and creative light. Dante Alighieri: Dante Alighieri wrote his epic poem The Divine Comedy between 1308 and 1321 and since its publication the literary work has served as inspiration for countless arts, writers and sculptors. The Divine Comedy follows a dream in which the author enters the after-life. Dante describes three different states, Hell, Purgatory and Paradise. This work consumed most of Dante's life and he died the year it was completed. The popularity of the poem at the end of the 19th century could well have been the reason Rodin chose this subject as the theme of many of his sculptures, including The Thinker and The Kiss. Michelangelo: Rodin presented The Thinker nude as with many of his works and the similarities between this type of style and that of Renaissance masters such as Michelangelo is clear to see. To Rodin there was something poetic about the heroic nude and that type of heresy and romanticism was what the artist wanted to capture in his sculpture.

Hugo Rheinhold: Hugo Rheinhold was a contemporary of Rodin and an Impressionist sculptor from Germany. Rheinhold produced and exhibited his Affe mit Schadel before The Thinker was created and this work may well have influenced Rodin. Both artists shared an appreciation of natural, realistic compositions. The Thinker Analysis The Thinker Auguste Rodin As one of Auguste Rodin's most recognized works The Thinker is surprisingly simple in design and is possibly one of the easiest of Rodin's pieces to understand. Subject Matter: Originally supposed to represent Dante, the poet, once this piece was enlarged and created as a sculpture within its own right the meaning behind it became more ambiguous. Commonly thought to represent knowledge or the attainment of knowledge, Rodin himself always referred to this piece as The Poet. Composition: The position which the contemplative figure finds himself in is one of deep thought and concentration. The arched back and curled hand resting under the chin are signs of study that would have been hard to capture were this figure standing up. This also allows for the figure's muscular back and broad shoulders to be fully defined, the powerful physique of the sitter reflecting the high esteem in which Rodin held poets like Dante.

Tone and Mood elicited: The mood of this piece is one of calm. Rodin captures the very human emotion of The Thinker which may go some way as to explain how this piece became one of the artist's most famous works. Methods: Although Rodin often used a model for many of his pieces it is not known if this was the case for The Thinker. Due to the numerous figures that Rodin had to compose for The Gates of Hell, The Thinker may have been a culmination of early sketches in which models sat in numerous poses. Once Rodin had decided on this position for The Thinker he would have made preliminary models from clay on a small scale. One of the artist's assistants would have then begun to carve the full-size model under his supervision. The artist was known to put the final touches to many of his carved pieces once the basic figure had been created by an assistant. The Thinker Critical Reception Les Arts de la vie Paris Unfortunately the Paris Museum for which the original The Gates of Hell was created was never built and so there is little critical reception for this piece in its original format. However, when Rodin chose to create The Thinker as a single sculpture it became one of his most well-known and acclaimed works.

A copy of the piece was in fact chosen by the artist to mark his grave in the cemetery at Meudon in Paris, France. Reception during the artist's Lifetime: The Thinker was first exhibited as a large-scale individual sculpture in 1904 at the Salon in Paris. The reaction to this piece was unprecedented and it became a favorite of the press at that time. Due to the fact that long before The Thinker was exhibited critics had been ridiculing Rodin's Monument to Balzac in the same gallery, one critic in particular felt that The Thinker more than made up for the abstract and unusual Balzac. Gabriel Mourey was the editor of a magazine called "Les Arts de la vie", which was a popular art publication of the time. Mourey started a subscription for The Thinker so that it could be purchased for the people of Paris to enjoy. By doing this, the memory of Rodin's disastrous Monument to Balzac was largely forgotten and Rodin cemented his place as the most influential sculptor of modern times. After the Artist's Death: Although some of Rodin's work fell out of favor as the 20th century progressed, The Thinker has remained one of the his most popular works.

Some critics have noted that this could be because The Thinker relates to everyone and the very human nature of the piece is much easier to understand than some of Rodin's more abstract works. 21st Century: Today the amount of copies of The Thinker around the world is testament to its popularity. Often used in many satirical comedies, The Thinker is such an iconic piece of work that it is still inspiring artists to this day. The Thinker Related Sculptures David Michelangelo As The Thinker is one of Rodin's most famous sculptures there are several works that have important connections to this piece. Related works range from similar pieces created by Rodin himself that share the same themes as The Thinker, to works by other artists that have either influenced Rodin directly or taken inspiration from The Thinker themselves. Other Works by Rodin: The Kiss: Rodin's The Gates of Hell illustrates characters from Dante's Inferno and one such scene includes that of the tragic mutual love of Paolo Malatesta for his sister-in-law Francesca de Rimini. Although this pairing was later removed from The Gates of Hell because it depicted a positive state, Rodin went on to create it as a full-size sculpture later in his career.

Its blend of eroticism and idealism makes it an iconic image of love. Works by other artists: Effe mit Schadel: Hugo Rheinhold was a contemporary of Rodin and an Impressionist sculptor from Germany. Rheinhold produced and exhibited his Affe mit Schadel before The Thinker was created. Both artists shared an appreciation of natural and realistic compositions. David: Michelangelo's sculpture portrays David, a Biblical hero, in a moment of deliberation. It is generally believed that this piece represents David immediately before his battle with Goliath. The Thinker Locations Through Time - Notable Sales Drouot Paris The original marble copy of The Thinker currently resides in the Musee Rodin in Paris, France. The piece was moved to the museum after Rodin's death when his whole estate was given to the French Government. As with many popular sculptures, several casts of the original work have been made and can now be found in cities all over the world. In June 2009 a bronze version of The Thinker was sold under auction for three million Euros at the Drouot auction house, in Paris.

This unprecedented amount was a big sale for a sculpture which only stood at 72.5 centimeters high. The Thinker Artist Auguste Rodin Auguste Rodin was a prolific artist and one who was widely acclaimed throughout his lifetime. Born in humble beginnings, The Thinker was part of one of his first civic commissions, The Gates of Hell. The Thinker itself was turned into an individual sculpture in 1902 and during this period Rodin was beginning to be a truly successful artist. During The Thinker's first exhibition in 1904 critics were so enthralled by the piece that it became Rodin's first work to be erected in a public place. This was after a campaign by Gabriel Mourey, editor of the magazine Les Arts de la vie, which raised funds for a new copy of the piece to be commissioned. By 1906 the second copy of The Thinker was erected in front of the Parthenon in Paris during a period of great political and social tensions. The Thinker became a symbol of the socialist movement in France during this time.

The Thinker Art Period Auguste Rodin was at the forefront of Impressionist sculpture and yet the artist never really connected himself with the other artists of the movement. Rodin never showed his work under the title of Impressionism and therefore it is hard to associate him with this art movement. The work of Rodin has remained some of the most innovative and ground-breaking of any sculptor in the history of art. Such was his impact that Rodin's work is often classified as Impressionist simply because it rebelled against the academic and classical ideals, as many Impressionist artists did through painting. The Thinker Bibliography Below is a list of internet and literary sources that offer more in-depth information about Rodin's The Thinker. Books: • Callen, Anthea. The Spectacular Body: Science, Method and Meaning in the Work of Degas. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1995 • Barbier, Nicolle. Marbres de Rodin: collection du musée. Paris, 1987: 184-187 • Barbier, Nicolle. Rodin sculpteur: Oeuvres méconnues. Exh. cat.

Musée Rodin, Paris, 1992: 187-190 • Elsen, Albert, E. Rodin's Gates of Hell. University of Minnesota, 1960 • Hawkins, Jennifer. Rodin Sculptures. VAM HMSO, London, 1975 • Kausch, Michael. Auguste Rodin: Eros und Leidenschaft. Exh. cat. Harrach Palace, Kunsthistorisches Museum • Lawton, Frederick. The Life and Work of Auguste Rodin. London, 1906 • Mitchell, Claudine. Rodin the Zola of Sculpture. Ashgate Publishing Ltd, 2004 • Rosenfeld, Daniel. "Rodin's Carved Sculpture. " In Rodin Rediscovered. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D. C., 1981: 85-87 Web Sources:

Question: Which artist is famous for his statue The Thinker'?
Answer: Auguste Rodin