The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of October 4, 2023

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.)

Gift of Ralph King 1917.42

Location

SE South Entrance

Fun Fact

This enlarged version of <em>The Thinker </em>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
"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).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1917.42