Framed in a rock and lost in thought for all eternity… Auguste Rodin’s masterpiece continues to leave us reflective. Who is he? Why is he in that trance state? What was Rodin inspired by? Many of these questions could easily go unanswered, but at Supercurious we won’t allow that. We will tell you some of the most relevant curiosities of Rodin’s The Thinker. Therefore, the last question we will ask is: Are you ready?
10 Curiosities of Rodin’s The Thinker
Like the tragic protagonists of Rodin’s The Kiss, The Thinker is also one of the most famous sculptures in art history. Before we start with our curiosities about The Thinker, we should know that Rodin conceived this work between 1881 and 1882 to decorate the upper part of the sculpture The Gate of Hell. The Thinker is currently on display at the Rodin Museum a good reason to know what to see in paris Rodin did not leave anything loose, this work is full of meaning and today we will discover some of them.
1. His name was The Poet, not The Thinker
To start our list of curiosities about Rodin’s The Thinker, we tell you that the sculpture was originally named after The poet, since he represented the writer Dante Alighieri author of the famous work The Divine Comedy. According to the researcher François Blanchetiere, The poet represents a tortured body and at the same time a man with a free spirit determined to achieve his freedom through poetry.
However, in a letter from Rodin sent to Marcel Adam, he tells him: «Thin, ascetic, Dante separated from the group would have made no sense. Guided by my first inspiration I conceived another thinker».
2. What was Rodin inspired by?
We know that your first big assignment Hell’s doors gave rise to The Thinker, but that really wasn’t his inspiration. Although this work represents Dante, what Rodin was most excited about were the Parthenon sculptures and he became a magnificent interpreter of them! According to Ian Jenkins: “Rodin was greatly inspired by “the fragment” of Greek sculpturesand he did not lament the ruin of these pieces and the loss of heads and limbs, but celebrated it and read all the strength that could be expressed in a single torso, for example».
3. The Thinker is a reflection of modern society
One of the most interesting curiosities of Rodin’s The Thinker is reflected in the ability to convey what was happening at the time of its creation. Rodin gave us a faithful image of the society of his time. in a series of portraits of great “psychological intensity”. In fact, the thinker is one of them. Sunk in a thinking attitude and flooded with tranquility, on the contrary it is explosive in its form on the outside, the sculpture has movement and life. By contrasting these two elements, Rodin generated a drama typical of the modern period.
4. Rodin’s thinker shouldn’t be this muscular
The thinker, according to Rodin, belongs to all bodies and to all places. But the strong and very muscular body of the thinker puzzled most of Rodin’s contemporaries, who considered this choice inappropriate for the representation of the mind. The sculptor himself responded to this complaint: «My idea was to represent man as a symbol of humanity. The rude and industrious man, who stops to think about things in full activity, to exercise a faculty that distinguishes him from brutes.
5. The Latin American Thinker
The sculpture of El Pensador becomes so universal, that also in Latin America there is also a Thinker! Rodin’s Latin American Thinker could not be missing from our list of curiosities. Thanks to the management of the National Museum of Fine Arts in Buenos Aires, a copy of the French work of The Thinker was made that arrived directly from Paris in 1907.
Although this work was going to be located on the steps of the National Congress, it was not placed there due to the delay in the construction of the building. The piece, which is cast in bronze from the original mold, also bears Rodin’s signature and was exhibited for the first time on the Centennial of the May Revolution.
7. The Thinker’s Fear
For Rodin it was important to express his concerns in the works he created, and The Thinker was no exception and neither were his curiosities. With some details that seem “unfinished” like the rock on which The Thinker is sitting, Rodin shows that man has the right to live outside of a structure, not to be afraid of the unknown. However, the feet curled up on the edge of the rock in a dangerous position, as if they were going to slip, make it clear that The Thinker is resisting something. There is fear of falling into the abyss, he intuits that It is about Rodin’s own fear of going down to hell.
8. Rodin and Michelangelo
The pose of Rodin’s The Thinker also contemplates amazing curiosities, it is believed that it was inspired by the figure of his teacher Jean Baptiste Carpeaux, known as Hugolino. In turn, it has been speculated that during a trip to Italy, Rodin was amazed by the works and Michelangelo quotes and that is why he decided to copy some poses like that of Lorenzo de Medici seated, or that of a condemned man who is in his final judgment.
9. The Roman numeral hidden in Rodin’s The Thinker
If we stop for a moment to observe the figures that frame the extremities of The Thinker, we will realize that they have a meaning. For Rodin nothing could be left lightly and in El Pensador he very subtly left the mark of The Divine Comedy.
Some theorists claim that the flexion of his legs and the flexion of his right arm form the Roman numeral V, and according to their interpretations, this refers to the fifth canto of Dantewhen he goes down to the second circle and meets Minos who acts as an infernal judge.
10. The position of The Thinker
We will close our list of curiosities about Rodin’s The Thinker with one of the most important details in its composition. The position of the body together with the life that the lips, the muscles and the right hand take on, tells us about man in deep thought. The mind strains, moves by bending and disturbed with wrinkles. The Thinker is a being of all times, because it is man who forges the world and his thought, with fears and virtues, explores every corner of his being, constantly remaining in a state of trance.
Do you know other curiosities about The Thinker and Rodin? Tell us, we read you! And if you want to know more about the world of art, we recommend you read some curiosities of famous paintings and these phrases of painters.