YIU Lung Fai talks on Auguste Rodin: The Thinker (c. 1880)

Auguste Rodin The Thinker (c. 1880)

 A good presentation will include:

• full details of the work – artist, title, year, medium, dimensions
• an explanation of how the work fits into a broader style or movement (eg Realism) and the specific historical context (eg the mid 19^th century in France).
• A description of the work
• one key quote about the work in question
• why this work interests you/ your own opinion of the work

• names of authors, titles of articles, books or websites (and publication information) that are especially relevant to this work
• a thought-provoking question about the work for the class

Artist: Auguste Rodin

Year: 1880

Type: Bronze

Location: Musée Rodin, Paris

Dimensions: H. 71.5 cm

l   an explanation of how the work fits into a broader style or movement (eg Realism) and the specific historical context (eg the mid 19^th century in France).

Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement that began as a loose association of Paris-based artists whose independent exhibitions brought them to prominence in the 1870s and 1880s. The name of the movement is derived from the title of a Claude Monet work, Impression, Sunrise (Impression, soleil levant).

 Impressionism characterized by concentration on the immediate visual impression produced by a scene and by the use of unmixed primary colors and small strokes to simulate actual reflected light. It is try to evoke subjective and sensory impressions rather than the re-creation of objective reality. Therefore, it can express or develop one's subjective response to a work of art or to actual experience.

As we can see that the sculpture texture is pretty smooth, but we can imagine there are many bumps and the color on "The Thinker" is all the same, a dark sort of shiny coppery color, the color of weathered bronze. These kinds of features may let audience think “The Thinker” has represented calm and lonely. Also, it captures so well the human struggle to understand by its facial expression.

Originally, 'The Thinker' - exhibited in Copenhagen in 1888 as 'The Poet', it is a part of “The Gates of Hell”, created by Auguste Rodin.

l   A description of the work

   The Thinker, originally titled "The Poet," was commissioned by Musée des Arts Décoratifs (Museum of Decorative Arts) in 1880 to grace the great doors at the entrance to the museum meant to embody the 1321 work The Divine Comedy. Originally meant to be Dante himself pondering the massive "The Gates of Hell," The Thinker evolved to become a larger than life stand-alone piece.

  It is cast in bronze, with the male subject, sitting nude upon a stone, legs slightly tucked below him and firmly resting on the stone. His left arm reposes upon the left leg, and the right arm is tucked under the chin. While the right muscular arm supports the pensive head, the left hand is open, as if showing us he is thinking hardly and trying to understand the reality of life. From the smooth sculpture we still can see his knitted brow, his distended nostrils, and compressed lips, but with every muscle of his arms, back, and legs, with his clenched fist and toes. As we see, his body is twisted in tension from his head down to his curled toes which like to depict a man in sober thought battling with a powerful internal struggle. Also his thoughtful eyes gaze into a depth beyond tangible description, and his contemplative face expresses a profound pondering.

  In fact, “The Thinker” was originally meant to depict Dante in front of “The Gates of Hell”, pondering his great poem. And the sculpture is nude, as Rodin wanted a heroic figure in the tradition of Michelangelo, to represent intellect as well as poetry.

l   One key quote about the work in question

  “The Thinker in his austere nudity, in his pensive force, is at the same time a wild Adam, implacable Dante, and merciful Virgil… but he is above all The Ancestor, the first man, naïve and without conscience, bending over that which he will engender.”

Mirbeau. (1990). RODIN, SCULPTURE & DRAWINGS. Catherine Lampert. P. 50

l   Why this work interests you/ your own opinion of the work

  As we know, the term of Impressionism is derived from Monet stylistic painting. So this movement is commonly suitable for painting more than to sculpture. So that, I want to know why The Thinker also be regarded as an impressionism artwork?

  What more, the sculpture was originally created as part of Rodin's larger bronze piece "The Gates of Hell" in 1880, and be named as “The Thinker”, but what the thinker think about and why it is naked?

  What I think is that the smooth and uneven surface of the sculpture has showed strength and passion, which like its contemporary impressionism painting, to break the form, represented the side of life in the message. By the features of the sculpture, I also think about that Rodin had pass out a passion, suffering, pleasure and thinking message to us though The Thinker.

  Since “The Thinker” is a part of “The Gates of Hell”, he may think about the view of the sinners swallowed by the blood. What more, he is thinking people life and death. Also, he is naked because it is emphasized that the thinker was trying to resolve whatever problem that he was tugging with on his own, without any assistance from anyone else.

l   names of authors, titles of articles, books or websites (and publication information) that are especially relevant to this work

1.         Arts Council of Great Britain. Rodin Sculpture & Drawings. Catherine Lampert(1990). Second Printing.

2.         HsiungPingming. 關於羅丹. Tianjin Education Publishing House(2003).Second Printing.

3.         Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thinker. last modified on 18 February 2011

la thought-provoking question about the work for the class

"why The Thinker is naked"