The Thinker (1880)
Rodin never wanted to say anything about what his Thinker thought, at most about how he thought. “My Thinker thinks not only with his brain, his furrowed brow, his dilated nostrils and pursed lips, but with every muscle in his arms, back and legs. The Thinker sits in the tympanum and surveys hell: he is the judge of those below, but he is also locked up in it.’ The Thinker was Rodin’s first work to be publicly exhibited. It was erected in front of the Pantheon on April 21, 1906, during an intense political and social crisis in France. Later it was transported to the Hotel Biron: today’s Rodin Museum and Rodin’s former studios.
Material: Solid synthetic resin
Height 14 cm.