  
  About the Artwork
  
  
  &acirc;&#128;&#156;The Thinker&acirc;&#128;&#157; was conceived as representing Dante, the central figure of Rodin&acirc;&#128;&#153;s monumental &acirc;&#128;&#156;The Gates of Hell.&acirc;&#128;&#157; Rodin considered this figure in broad universal terms to symbolize the powerful internal struggle of the creative human mind. Rodin soon designed &acirc;&#128;&#156;The Thinker&acirc;&#128;&#157; 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 &Atilde;&#151; 51 1/4 &Atilde;&#151; 55 1/4 inches (200.7 &Atilde;&#151; 130.2 &Atilde;&#151; 140.3 cm)
  
  
  
  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&acirc;&#128;&#153;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&acirc;&#128;&#148;no longer assigned&acirc;&#128;&#148;that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups.
  
  
  
  22.143
  
  
  Copyright
  Public Domain
  
  
  
