Le Penseur was originally conceived circa 1880 for the tympanum of La Porte de L'Enfer. Rodin's original idea was that this figure should represent Dante surrounded by all the characters of the Divine Comedy, but even while still working on the maquettes for the Gates, his concept changed: "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 within his brain. He is no longer dreamer, he is creator." (A.Elsen, Rodin, New York, 1963, p. 53)

Le Penseur belongs to the group of major early works inspired by Michelangelo, whose sculpture so affected Rodin when he first visited Italy in 1875. This monumental figure, perhaps his most famous work, was discussed by him shortly before his death, where he made clear his concern with expressing the act of thinking: "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." (Saturday Night, Toronto, Dec. 1917) Although made for La Porte de L'Enfer Rodin considered it to be an independent work, and it was first exhibited as such in Copenhagen in 1888.

The present sculpture is a fine crisp cast with a good patina and very good definition in the musculature of the figure and the base on which he sits.