Auguste Rodin "The Thinker": A wondrous experience of the contemplative artistic soul (1840 ~ 1917)

French master sculptor Auguste Rodin vividly captured the beauty and movement of the human body in his works of art. In particular, his masterpiece, 'The Thinker', symbolizes the human spirit immersed in deep thought.

Rodin Museum in Paris

The Rodin Museum in Paris is an art museum that opened in 1919. It mainly exhibits the major works of the sculptor Auguste Rodin. The museum is located in the Hôtel Biron and surrounding areas in the heart of Paris and in the Villa des Brillantes in Hauts-de-Seine Meudon on the outskirts of Paris. The collection includes 6,600 sculptures, 8,000 drawings, 8,000 old photographs, and 7,000 objects. The museum receives about 700,000 visitors each year.

Rodin lived in the Villa des Brillans and used the Hôtel Biron as his studio from 1908 onwards. He then donated his entire sculpture collection to the French state, along with paintings by Vincent van Gogh, Claude Monet and Pierre-Auguste Renoir, to turn the building into a museum dedicated to his work.

The Rodin Museum displays most of Rodin's major works, including The Thinker, The Kiss, and The Gates of Hell. The museum's extensive gardens display many of Rodin's sculptures, and the museum also has a room dedicated to Camille Claudel's work and one of two casts of the artist in his mature years.

The Thinker, Rodin

This Rodin masterpiece is a 186cm tall plaster statue, The Thinker, completed in 1880 and originally titled The Poet.

'The Thinker' was created by Rodin to portray the poet in 'The Gates of Hell', based on Dante 's ' Divine Comedy '. In 'The Gates of Hell', the figures scream and the suffering of humanity are clearly revealed.

It is said that Rodin created the statue of a man sitting on a rock, deep in thought, while looking at the suffering of many people. The tense muscles of the whole body condense the violent movements of the mind, and it is a work that powerfully expresses the figure of a man who continues to think forever. Rodin made a big announcement of it as an independent work in 1888 and it became famous after exhibiting it at the Salon in 1904.

The universal value of inner reflection on human existence

Auguste Rodin's masterpiece, The Thinker, is more than just a sculpture. It depicts a human figure in deep meditation, and raises fundamental questions about human existence.

The Thinker symbolizes the eternal question of who we are, where we come from, and where we are going. Rodin captured the inner world and mental anguish of human beings through this work. The smoke-shrouded appearance of the sculpture hints at the mystical realm of life.

이 이미지는 대체 속성이 비어있습니다. 그 파일 이름은 KakaoTalk_20240425_131442949.png입니다 — A 'Thinker'

In a peaceful space where we can contemplate while looking at the 'thinking man', we can look inside ourselves and reflect on life. While looking at the silently meditative statue, we can contemplate the universal ontological thoughts of humanity.