What's The Thinker Thinking?
1910 AD
1910 1910
02.15E48.24N
ART

PARIS, FRANCE
	He sits pondering, pondering, but what is he thinking about? The problems of mankind? Where he left his keys?
	You may not be able to guess what he is thinking, but it is clear that sculptor Auguste Rodin's "The Thinker" is deep in thought. And for that reason "The Thinker" (1910) is a success, for Rodin was attempting to solve the problem of how to portray something you can't see, in this case, "thought."
	The statue -- originally planned as one of a group of figures -- is of a husky man who looks as if he would be better using his muscles than his brain, so his effort at thinking is all the more obvious and intense. Rodin has given him a rough finish, perhaps so as not to distract the eye from his all-important pose.
	Many of Rodin's figures have this rough finish. Though he was influenced by Michelangelo's realistic work he was also interested in the work of the impressionists, who lived in Paris with him. His "Walking Man" statue shows this impressionist influence. Because he wanted to emphasize the act of walking in the sculpture, Rodin figured the head and arms were unimportant, so he left them off.
	While Rodin's works are not always smoothly finished, that was not his object. Like the impressionists, he tried to capture a moment in time. For Rodin, it was the pose or action that expressed the character of his subject.
	Rodin's other great works include the "Portal of Hell," showing the suffering of those in Hell; "The Kiss," a smooth-finished sculpture depicting a man and woman embracing; and "Balzac," a roughly finished and imposing statue of the great French novelist.