Rodin originally conceived a smaller version of this sculpture to sit atop his monumental bronze portal, The Gates of Hell (1880-1917). The figure was intended to represent Italian poet Dante Alighieri pondering The Divine Comedy, his epic story of Paradise and Inferno. However, in 1889 Rodin exhibited the sculpture independently of The Gates, giving it the title The Thinker, and in 1902 he embarked on this enlarged version. Numerous casts exist worldwide, including the one now in the gardens of the Musée Rodin, a gift to the City of Paris installed outside the Panthéon in 1906, cast by the foundry Alexis Rudier, Paris. Another copy is located in the gardens of Rodin's house in Meudon, on the tomb of the sculptor and his wife. (Source: Musée Rodin [website]; http://www.musee-rodin.fr/en/)
work_description_source
Rodin originally conceived a smaller version of this sculpture to sit atop his monumental bronze portal, The Gates of Hell (1880-1917). The figure was intended to represent Italian poet Dante Alighieri pondering The Divine Comedy, his epic story of Paradise and Inferno. However, in 1889 Rodin exhibited the sculpture independently of The Gates, giving it the title The Thinker, and in 1902 he embarked on this enlarged version. Numerous casts exist worldwide, including the one now in the gardens of the Musée Rodin, a gift to the City of Paris installed outside the Panthéon in 1906, cast by the foundry Alexis Rudier, Paris. Another copy is located in the gardens of Rodin's house in Meudon, on the tomb of the sculptor and his wife. (Source: Musée Rodin [website]; http://www.musee-rodin.fr/en/)
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