THE GREAT THINKER

THE GREAT THINKER

Plaster*  - Height cm. 184 ( 72 1/2 ")

For details, please view The Thinker.

Of all Rodin’s works, The Thinker was the most important to him. Rodin guarded this sculpture with unusual care: variations of the work were entrusted only to his most experienced associates and casters.* Placement of the enlargement of 1903-6, retitled The Great Thinker, was of critical concern. The first cast marked the entrance to the Pantheon, France’s final resting place for many of its heroes. Rodin also designated The Great Thinker as the monument to mark his and Rose Beuret’s tomb.   

* Until he gave the figure to the Alexis Rudier foundry in 1906, Rodin demanded that bronze versions, even of The Great Thinker, be produced by the arduous lost-wax method of casting.