Gift of the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation in honor of Governor Michael F. Easley and Mary P. Easley
The Thinker was designed to be part of the center archway (called a tympanum) of The Gates of Hell, a giant doorway for a museum of decorative arts in Paris. Rodin’s starting point for this commissioned work was the epic poem Inferno, written by the medieval Italian poet Dante Alighieri.
Rodin later explained his inspiration for The Thinker:
In days long gone by, I conceived of the idea of the Gates of Hell. Before the door, seated on a rock, Dante, thinking of the plan of his poem … This project was not realized. Thin, ascetic Dante separated from the whole would have been without meaning. Guided by my first impression, I conceived of another thinker, a naked man, seated upon a rock, his feet drawn up under him, his fist against his teeth, he dreams. The fertile thought slowly elaborates itself within his brain. He is no longer dreamer, he is creator.
Rodin never said what his figure is thinking about, but he did express his thoughts about his creation shortly before his death:
What makes my Thinker think is that he thinks 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 fist and gripping toes.
The subject of Rodin’s sculpture is consumed by his thoughts. The act of thinking requires him to use not just his mind but his entire body.
tags: meaning, power, reflection, artist’s process
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