Lot Essay
Rodin conceived Le penseur around 1880 as the centerpiece for the tympanum of La porte de l'enfer. He originally intended this figure to represent Dante surrounded by all the characters of his Divine Comedy. Even before he completed the maquettes for La porte de l'enfer, however, his conception of Le penseur shifted to a more generalized symbol of creative genius. As Rodin himself explained,
Thin, asectic Dante separated from the whole would have been without meaning. Guided by my first inspiration I conceived another Thinker, a naked man, seated upon a rock, his feet drawn under him, his fist at his teeth, he dreams. The fertile thought slowly elaborates itself in his brain. He is no longer dreamer, he is creator. (quoted in A. Elsen, op. cit., p. 53)
In an interview shortly before his death, Rodin again emphasized his concern with expressing the physical act of thinking, the vitality and power of the creative mind:
Nature gives me my model, life and thought; the nostrils breathe, the heart beats, the lungs inhale, the being thinks, and feels, has pains and joys, ambitions, passions, emotions... What makes my Thinker think is that he thinks not only with his brain, with his knitted brow, his distended nostrils and compressed lips, but with every muscle of his arms, back and legs, with his clenched fist and gripping toes. (quoted in Saturday Night, Toronto, Dec., 1917)
Perhaps the most celebrated of all Rodin's sculptures, Le penseur belongs to a group of important early works inspired by the art of Michelangelo which had so impressed Rodin on his visit to Italy in 1875. Although made for La porte de l'enfer, Rodin considered Le penseur to be an independent work, and exhibited it as such in Copenhagen in 1888. The sculpture was so popular with collectors and museums that Rodin had it cast in three sizes: a small version, 14¾ inches high; the original size, of which the present cast is one; and an enlarged version, executed in 1902 and presented as a gift to the city of Paris in 1906. The large version was first situated in front of the Pantheon and was moved to the Musée Rodin in 1922.
Thin, asectic Dante separated from the whole would have been without meaning. Guided by my first inspiration I conceived another Thinker, a naked man, seated upon a rock, his feet drawn under him, his fist at his teeth, he dreams. The fertile thought slowly elaborates itself in his brain. He is no longer dreamer, he is creator. (quoted in A. Elsen, op. cit., p. 53)
In an interview shortly before his death, Rodin again emphasized his concern with expressing the physical act of thinking, the vitality and power of the creative mind:
Nature gives me my model, life and thought; the nostrils breathe, the heart beats, the lungs inhale, the being thinks, and feels, has pains and joys, ambitions, passions, emotions... What makes my Thinker think is that he thinks not only with his brain, with his knitted brow, his distended nostrils and compressed lips, but with every muscle of his arms, back and legs, with his clenched fist and gripping toes. (quoted in Saturday Night, Toronto, Dec., 1917)
Perhaps the most celebrated of all Rodin's sculptures, Le penseur belongs to a group of important early works inspired by the art of Michelangelo which had so impressed Rodin on his visit to Italy in 1875. Although made for La porte de l'enfer, Rodin considered Le penseur to be an independent work, and exhibited it as such in Copenhagen in 1888. The sculpture was so popular with collectors and museums that Rodin had it cast in three sizes: a small version, 14¾ inches high; the original size, of which the present cast is one; and an enlarged version, executed in 1902 and presented as a gift to the city of Paris in 1906. The large version was first situated in front of the Pantheon and was moved to the Musée Rodin in 1922.