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Lot Essay
This work will be included in the forthcoming Auguste Rodin catalogue critique de l'oeuvre sculpté currently being prepared by the Comité Rodin at Galerie Brame et Lorenceau under the direction of Jérôme Le Blay under the archive number 2010-3250B.
Perhaps the most celebrated sculpture of all time, Rodin's Le Penseur was conceived in 1881-1882 to crown his monumental La porte d'Enfer, and belongs to the group of major early works inspired by Michelangelo, whose sculpture had greatly impressed Rodin during his visit to Italy in 1875. The figure was first intended to represent Dante, surrounded by the characters of his Divine Comedy, but soon took on an independent life. Rodin later explained the genesis of his project: "The Thinker has a story. In the days long gone by, I conceived the idea of the Gates of Hell. Before the door, seated on a rock, Dante, thinking of the plan of his poem. Behind him, Ugolino, Francesca, Paolo, all the characters of the Divine Comedy. This project was not realized. Thin, ascetic, Dante separated from the whole naked man, seated upon a rock, his feet drawn under him, his fist at his teeth, he dreams. The fertile thought slowly elaborates itself in the brain. He is no longer dreamer, he is creator" (quoted in A.E. Elsen, op. cit., 1963, p. 53). Having thus transcended Dante's narrative, Le Penseur soon became a universal symbol of reflection and creative genius which has ever since retained its hold on the popular imagination.
Perhaps the most celebrated sculpture of all time, Rodin's Le Penseur was conceived in 1881-1882 to crown his monumental La porte d'Enfer, and belongs to the group of major early works inspired by Michelangelo, whose sculpture had greatly impressed Rodin during his visit to Italy in 1875. The figure was first intended to represent Dante, surrounded by the characters of his Divine Comedy, but soon took on an independent life. Rodin later explained the genesis of his project: "The Thinker has a story. In the days long gone by, I conceived the idea of the Gates of Hell. Before the door, seated on a rock, Dante, thinking of the plan of his poem. Behind him, Ugolino, Francesca, Paolo, all the characters of the Divine Comedy. This project was not realized. Thin, ascetic, Dante separated from the whole naked man, seated upon a rock, his feet drawn under him, his fist at his teeth, he dreams. The fertile thought slowly elaborates itself in the brain. He is no longer dreamer, he is creator" (quoted in A.E. Elsen, op. cit., 1963, p. 53). Having thus transcended Dante's narrative, Le Penseur soon became a universal symbol of reflection and creative genius which has ever since retained its hold on the popular imagination.