The Thinker is a bronze sculpture
on marble pedestal by Auguste Rodin, whose first cast, of 1902. It depicts
a man in sober meditation battling with a powerful internal struggle. It is
often used to represent philosophy.
François-Auguste-René Rodin (12 November 1840 – 17 November 1917), known as Auguste
Rodin, was a French sculptor. Although Rodin is generally considered the
progenitor of modern sculpture,
he did not set out to rebel against the past. He was schooled traditionally,
took a craftsman-like approach to his work, and desired academic recognition,
although he was never accepted into Paris's foremost school of art. Sculpturally,
Rodin possessed a unique ability to model a complex, turbulent, deeply pocketed
surface in clay.
Many of his most notable sculptures were roundly criticized during his
lifetime. They clashed with the predominant figure sculpture tradition, in
which works were decorative, formulaic, or highly thematic. Rodin's most
original work departed from traditional themes of mythology
and allegory,
modeled the human body with realism, and celebrated individual character and
physicality. Rodin was sensitive to the controversy surrounding his work, but
refused to change his style.
