Artist Portfolio: Auguste Rodin

The Thinker (1880)
bronze, 79" x 511/4" x 551/4"

Biographical notes: Auguste Rodin (1840-1917) was influenced by the muscular nudes of Michelangelo, which he had studied in Italy in 1875. The Thinker depicts a man in which every portion of his being, from knitted brow to gripping toes, is involved in the act of thinking. The sculpture was created by the artist in 1880 as a fifteen-inch high bronze statue. In 1902, an enlarged seventy-nine inch version was cast, and since then at least twenty-one additional bronzes have been created from the original mold.

Rodin Links:

WebMuseum, Paris

http://www.oir.ucf.edu/wm/paint/auth/rodin/

Musee Rodin, Paris

http://www.musee-rodin.fr/welcome.htm

The Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford University

http://www.stanford.edu/dept/SUMA/sculpture.html