The Thinker

modeled and cast in 1903

Auguste Rodin, Artist Alexis Rudier Foundry, Foundry

On View

Edith and Benson Ford Plaza and Woodward entrance area Wing

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Provenance

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Published References

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About the Artwork

“The Thinker” was conceived as representing Dante, the central figure of Rodin’s monumental “The Gates of Hell.” Rodin considered this figure in broad universal terms to symbolize the powerful internal struggle of the creative human mind. Rodin soon designed “The Thinker” as an independent sculpture. In 1904 he displayed the first over-life-size enlargement at the Paris Salon, where Dr. Max Linde, a German collector, acquired cast no. 3. In 1922 Horace Rackham purchased this cast from Dr. Linde and donated it to the museum, where it is placed at the Woodward Avenue entrance.

Title The Thinker

Artwork Date modeled and cast in 1903

Makers Auguste Rodin (Artist) French, 1840-1917 Alexis Rudier Foundry (Foundry) French, 1874 - 1952

Medium Bronze

Dimensions Overall: 79 × 51 1/4 × 55 1/4 inches, 2000 pounds (200.7 × 130.2 × 140.3 cm, 907.2 kg) Overall (granite base weight): 12000 pounds (5443.2 kg)

Classification Sculpture

Department European Sculpture and Dec Arts

Credit Gift of Horace H. Rackham

Accession Number This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection. Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings. For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups. 22.143

Markings

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Provenance

1903, Dr. and Mrs. M. Linde (Lübeck, Germany);
1922, sold with rest of collection;
1922-present, gift of Horace Rackham to the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

For more information on provenance, please visit:

Provenance page

Exhibition History

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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.

We welcome your feedback for correction and/or improvement.

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Published References

R.P. "Rodin's 'Le Pensur' Given." Bulletin of the DIA 4, no. 3 (December 1922): 18-19, (cover ill.).

Detroit Institute of Arts. Modern Sculpture. Detroit, 1950, pp. 12-13 (ill.).

“Family Art Game.” DIA Advertising Supplement, Detroit Free Press, June 4, 1978, p. 22 (ill.).

“Family Art Game.” DIA Advertising Supplement, Detroit News/Detroit Free Press, April 18, 1982, (cover ill.).

Marandel, J. P. "Rodin's 'Thinker': Notes on the Early History of the Detroit Cast; Followed by part one of a correspondence between Auguste Rodin and Max Linde." Bulletin of the DIA no. 4 (1987): 32-52, figs. 1-2, title page (ill.).

Marandel, J. Patrice. "Rodin's Thinker: Notes on the Early History of the Detroit Cast." Bulletin of the DIA 63, nos. 3/4: 32-55, fig. 1, cf. fig. 9.

Le Normand-Romain, Antoinette. The Bronzes of Rodin: Catalogue of Works in the Musée Rodin vol. II. Paris, 2007, pp. 584-595.

Abt, Jeffrey. Valuing Detroit’s Art Museum: A History of Fiscal Abandonment and Rescue. Detroit, 2017, pp. xvi, 123, fig. 4.2 (ill.).

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