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Oct 25, 2006

The Thinker

1880–81

Auguste Rodin

(French, 1840–1917)

France, 19th century

Bronze

Overall: 182.9 x 98.4 x 142.2 cm (72 x 38 3/4 x 56 in.)

Weight: 1,650 pounds - weighed by crane on 5/31/2006

Gift of Ralph King 1917.42

Location

SE South Entrance

Did you know?

This enlarged version of The Thinker is one of less than 10 cast during Rodin's lifetime.

Description

The Thinker was first developed as part of Rodin's The Gates of Hell, a sculptured doorway for a proposed museum of decorative arts in Paris. Intended to be part of a relief directly above the doors, the rugged figure was originally conceived as a generalized image of the Italian poet Dante Alighieri (1265–1321), who wrote the Divine Comedy.

Inscriptions

Inscription

signed on base near sinister foot: "A. Rodin."

Provenance

purchased from the artist in 1916.

Citations

Rodin, Auguste, Antoinette Le Normand-Romain, Christina Buley-Uribe, Patrick R. Crowley, C. D. Dickerson, Laure de Margerie, Véronique Mattiussi, Elyse Nelson, Jennifer A. Thompson, and Nora M. Rosengarten. Rodin in the United States: Confronting the Modern. Williamstown, Massachusetts : Clark Art Institute, 2022. Mentioned: p. 28, 129, 235, 238; reproduced: p. 238, fig. 9.18

Margerie, Laure de, Antoinette Le Normand-Romain, Elisabeth Lyman, Miriam Rosen, Cole Swensen, and Susan Wise. French Sculpture: An American Passion. [Ghent] : Snoeck, 2023. Mentioned: p. 408 and 441; Reproduced: p. 407, fig. 4 and 441, fig. 5

"Rodin Memorial Exhibition." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 4, no. 9 (1917): 162-63. Mentioned: pp. 162-163 www.jstor.org

"Modern Sculpture at the Museum." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 4, no. 6 (1917): 108-09. Reproduced: Front Matter; Mentioned: p. 108 www.jstor.org

"Report of the Museum's Second Year." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 5, no. 6/7 (1918): 69-79. Mentioned: p. 70 www.jstor.org

Tacha, Athena. Rodin Sculpture in the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1967. Mentioned: p. 96-97, cat. no. X; Reproduced: p. [53], Plate 68 archive.org

Tacha, Athena. A Supplement to Rodin Sculpture in the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1974. Mentioned: p. 130S, cat. no. X

Lee, Sherman E. "The Year in Review for 1979." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 67, no. 3 (1980): 58-99. Mentioned: p. 60 www.jstor.org

Franklin, David. The Cleveland Museum of Art. London: Scala Arts & Heritage Publishers Ltd., 2012. Reproduced: p. 60 - 61

Valencia, Natalia. "When I Do Count the Clock That Tells the Time." In Number Eleven: Cyprien Gaillard. Julia Stoschek Foundation, ed., 14-36. Dusseldorf: Julia Stoschek Collection, 2015. Mentioned: P. 30

"Westfalen." In Number Eleven: Cyprien Gaillard. Julia Stoschek Foundation, ed., 68-73. Dusseldorf: Julia Stoschek Collection, 2015. Mentioned: P. 69-70

Hudak, Brittany Mariel. "Masked Men, Hatchets, and Bombs: Frank Oriti's Clarity, Rodin's The Thinker, and the Silencing of Art Vandalism." Collective Arts Network. CAN Journal, Winter 2015-2016. Mentioned: p. 65-67; Reproduced: p. 66

Tableau. [Utrecht]: [Tableau], 1978. Reproduced and mentioned; p. 130

Anonymous. "Leftovers/I was Opened." Cabinet 65(Autumn/Winter 2017/2018). Reproduced: p. 18-21

Arendsee, M., and M. Steinman-Arendsee. "Take the CAN disability aesthetics tour, at the Cleveland Museum of art." CAN Journal (Winter 2019/20): 76-87. Mentioned: p. 85; Reproduced: p. 86

Exhibition history

Conserving the Past for the Future. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 4-May 6, 2001).

Monet to Dalí: Modern Masters from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 21, 2007-January 13, 2008).

Cite this page

{{cite web|title=The Thinker|url=https://clevelandart.org/art/1917.42|author=Auguste Rodin|year=1880–81|access-date=11 December 2023|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

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The Thinker

The Thinker

Auguste Rodin

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