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The Thinker

Auguste Rodin

(1840-1917)

Anubis Amarok

History of Modern Art

November 28, 2009

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Auguste Rodin was born on November 12, 1840 and died on November 17, 1917. Rodin

was one of the best French sculptors of the nineteenth century. His inspiration was from

Michelangelo’s mastery of the human form, anatomy and with his own views of the human

nature; he was able to make works of art that helped revive the art of bronze sculpting. Rodin

was famous for sculptures such as the Saint John the Baptist preaching, Eve, The burghers of

Calais, The Gates of Hell, and especially The Thinker. He was known to be a sculptor that

applied realism, impressionism, and romanticism into his sculptures. On November 19, 2009, I

went to the Norton Simon Museum and saw the replica of Rodin’s sculpture, The Thinker, which

was made in 1902. This research paper will explore the origin and meanings behind the famous

sculpture, The Thinker.

The Thinker was considered to be one of Rodin’s most famous works. It was exhibited in

1888. When one looked at the subject of the sculpture, I saw man made out of bronze in a seated

position, leaning forward so that his elbow rested on his knee and his hand tucked under his chin

for a look of contemplation. That is merely the basic understanding of this sculpture. After

researching, Rodin made the meaning of the sculpture significant. As Rodin said, “What makes

my Thinker think is not only with his brain, with his knitted brow, his distended nostrils and

compressed lips, but with every muscle of his arms, back and legs, with his clenched fists and

gripping toes” (Cambell, 194). Rodin was communicating to his viewers that the thought process

of his works of art would be so intense that it was like it took all of the figure’s strength to

sustain the thoughts of the creative process. The sculpture exists as a symbol for art, education

and an image of mental activity and philosophy.

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The sculptural works of Rodin were greatly inspired by his days as a youth. In fact, one

could say that it started form his mother’s kitchen.

“When he was five years of age, his mother was one day frying some cakes, the dough of

which was first rolled thin, like pie crust, and then cut up into various fantastic forms,

before it was dropped into boiling fat. The forms attracted Rodin’s attention and asked

his mother to let him make some men to fry. When Rodin was finished, his mother would

fry the men he made. They would both watch as the little men were tortured by the fat

and out from it were the striking forms of the little men” (Elsen, 16).

This piece of information showed significance because this was Rodin’s first time sculpting and

this would lead him to his famous creation in his future. What also led him to creating sculptures

was his interest in the medieval and renaissance artists such as Michelangelo, Donatello, and

Ghilberti when he made a trip to Italy in 1875. He said, “Michelangelo helped me escape the

academicism” (Hale, 12). The magnificence of Michelangelo’s young aristocrats, muscular

figures, grave prophets, enigmatic sibyls, heroic biblical figures, and the tormented and hell

bound sinners haunted his imagination for the rest of his life. It was then that he was inspired and

worked to attain the mastery of the human body that later would be shown in his sculptures.

One’s research had shown that The Thinker was inspired by the story of Dante and the

Gates of Hell. As obscure the figure may be, it was revealed as to being the poet Dante from the

Gates of Hell. According to Rodin during his exhibition of the enlarged version of the Thinker in

Paris of 1904:

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“The Thinker has a story. In the days long gone by, I conceived the idea of “The Gates of

Hell.” Before the door, there seated on a rock was Dante, thinking of the plan of his

poem. Behind him there were Ugolino, Francesca, Paolo, all the characters of the Divine

Comedy. This project was not realized. Thin, ascetic, in his narrow robe, Dante separated

from the whole would have been narrow meaning. Guiding by my first inspiration I

conceived another thinker, a naked man, seated upon a rock, his feet drawn under him,

his fist against his teeth, he dreams. The fertile thought slowly elaborates itself within his

brain. He is no longer a dreamer, he is creator” (Elsen, 73).

The enlarged version of The Thinker was based on the character Dante. Here, the Thinker has

taken on in a more religious context. Rodin’s Thinker is referenced from the oldest traditions

from the dark wood of Canto 1 of the Inferno. It was in these Medieval and Renaissance

illustrations that Dante was always in an attitude of sleep (Iris, 96). It was into the attitude of

sleep because it was to represent Dante losing his straight path with God. The Thinker’s origins

stems from an ancient past.

He was an artist that applied different types of genre into his sculptures. One of them was

romanticism. Most of his sculptures are romantic because of how each of his sculptures looks

similar to the sculptures of classical Greek and how the subject matter is about the figure being

majestic and heroic. The Thinker was treated as a hero because of the strong references from

Dante’s Inferno, where he strongly awaits his retribution in hell. The bronze figure was shown

with its flexed muscles like that of a hero ready to face an evil threat. “The principal part of his

work… interprets Dante, Hugo, mythology, with a passionate romanticism of which élan,

feelings, and gestures were always comprehensible” (Iris, 136). In the Rodin’s Thinker, the

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expression of the face was not blank or lack of meaning but showed a figure that was heavily in

thought and emotional.

Rodin was considered also an impressionist. With his hands, he was able to make from

the medium, bronze, into something that looks human. His study of the human body and

practices made it possible for him to create a very realistic pose. Studying Michelangelo’s

concept of how the human muscular anatomy worked and looked, he was able to make bronze

look human. What makes the sculpture an impressionistic was how he was able to use bronze in

such a way to personify his ideals of mythology, religion, and humanity.

The Thinker was under the realism category. What makes Rodin’s Thinker realistic was

how he implemented human emotions into the sculpture. Such emotions were the negative

aspects of humanity. Rodin believed that humankind was doomed because of how ancient

religious or mythological texts always revealed that people’s demise was caused by the

deliberate disobedience of God. As humankind’s retribution, all will suffer hell’s fire.

What also makes The Thinker realistic was how Rodin carefully made it as close to

looking as human as possible. The one exaggeration was the size of its hands and feet being too

big. That of course was on purpose, for he made his sculpture look significant. Rodin made his

sculpture nude because of the humankind was naturally naked and to put clothes on a human

sculpture would be wrong and a lie. The nakedness was humankind’s true and purest form.

Rodin was a freelance modern artist. Instead of using what academics taught, he explored

and mixed different elements of art to create his works. Rodin applied his thoughts and of

humankind into his works. The Thinker is different from a classical sculpture such as

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Donatello’s Saint George (1416), because instead of glorifying people, Rodin expressed how

negative humankind was and still retaining some of the feel and look of a classical Greek statue.

He changed how viewers look at classical statues. His works were stylized and had meaning. He

broke the canons of what sculpting was all about.

Auguste Rodin (1840-1917) was known to be one the best French sculptors of the

nineteenth century. The sculpture was made from bronze and completed in 1902. Rodin’s work,

such as The Thinker, showed how he was romantic, impressionistic, and realistic. It was based

on Dante, the poet and The Gates of Hell. Rodin was known to been the one to save the art of

sculpting from becoming a dying art practice. He is considered a modern artist because he went

out of the canons of sculpting. The Thinker and along with his other works, were an

interpretation of his thoughts of humanity using mythology and religion.

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References:

Cambell Sara, Knoke Christine, Williams Gloria. Hand Book of the Norton Simon Museum. Pasadena. 2003

Elsen, Albert. Auguste Rodin, Reading on His Life and Work. New Jersey. 1965

Elsen, Albert. The Gates of Hell, by Auguste Rodin. California: Cantor Fitzgerald. 1985

Hale, William Harlan. The World of Rodin 1840-1917. New York: Walter C. Roher. 1969

Iris and B. Gerald Cantor. Rodin, a Magnificent Obsession. London: Merrell Publishers. 2001

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