MUSEUM OF WESTERN ART, Rodin Lobby

In the lobby of the museum, you can see the 1882-83 version of The Thinker, perhaps Rodin’s best-known work and one of the most widely admired worldwide. There is more than just one copy of the sculpture; a number of bronze castings were made from the clay model. The one you can admire here dates to 1904.

The statue depicts the same image of a man deep in thought you already saw on The Gates of Hell. Although the sculpture does not actually look like Dante, Rodin’s intent was to represent the author of the Divine Comedy, and the statue was initially known as “The Poet”.

The figure, deep in thought, is nude, because Rodin’s works were inspired by classical Greek sculpture, which idealized a balance between interior and exterior beauty. The specific inspiration for this statue, however, which many see as a representation of philosophy, came from Il Pensieroso, the figure sculpted by Michelangelo on the tomb of Lorenzo de’ Medici in the Basilica of San Lorenzo in Florence....