Auguste Rodin (12 November 1840 – 17 November 1917) was a French sculptor, generally considered the progenitor of modern sculpture.

A commission to create a portal for Paris' planned Museum of Decorative Arts was awarded to Auguste Rodin in 1880. Although the museum was never built, Rodin worked throughout his life on The Gates of Hell, a monumental sculptural group depicting scenes from Dante's Inferno in high relief.

Proverbs 23:7

ABOUT THE THINKER

The Thinker (French: Le Penseur) depicts a man in sober meditation battling with a powerful internal struggle. Originally titled The Poet, after Dante, it was to become one of the most well-known sculptures in the world. The original was a 27.5-inch (700 mm)-high bronze piece created between 1879 and 1889, designed for the Gates of Hell’s lintel, from which the figure would gaze down.

The Gates of Hell comprised 186 figures in its final form. Many of Rodin's best-known sculptures started as designs of figures for this composition, such as The Thinker, The Three Shades, and The Kiss, and were only later presented as separate and independent works.

There are over twenty monumental size bronze casts of The Thinker in museums around the world.