List of The Thinker sculptures


This is a list of The Thinker sculptures made by Auguste Rodin. The Thinker, originally a part of Rodin's The Gates of Hell, exists in several versions. The original size and the later monumental size versions were both created by Rodin, and the most valuable versions are those created under his supervision. There was also a limited edition of 12 copies made from the original plaster mold by the Musée Rodin after Rodin's death.
The Thinker exists as bronze casts, exhibition plaster casts, and original production plasters, which some consider art objects today.

Copies of ''The Thinker'' made during Rodin's lifetime

LocationSizeMaterialDateNotesReferences
National Gallery of VictoriaOriginalBronze1884Earliest bronze casting, has Florentine cap
Musée d'Art et d'Histoire, GenevaOriginalBronze1896
National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.OriginalBronze1901
Panthéon, Latin Quarter, Paris MonumentalPlaster, bronze-tinted1904Earliest monumental. The statue was vandalized and later scrapped.
University of LouisvilleMonumentalBronze1903First casting by A. A. Hébrard, lost wax technique, displayed at Louisiana Purchase Exposition
Detroit Institute of ArtsMonumentalBronze1903First casting by Alexis Rudier, sand casting, four days younger than Louisville copy,
publicly displayed at Leipzig and Berlin
Metropolitan Museum, New YorkMonumentalPlaster, bronze-tinted1904Sent to Louisiana Purchase Exhibition to replace the bronze version
Musée Rodin, ParisMonumentalBronze1904Installed outside Paris Panthéon in 1906, moved to Musée Rodin garden in 1922
Ny Carlsberg GlyptotekMonumentalBronze1904the "third Hébrard copy"
Staatliche Kunstsammlungen DresdenMonumentalPlaster1904acquired by museum in October 1904
National Museum, PoznańMonumentalPlaster1904acquired in January 1905
Strasbourg Museum of Modern and Contemporary ArtMonumentalPlaster1904purchased from the artist in 1907
Legion of Honor, San FranciscoMonumentalBronze1904Alexis Rudier cast, purchased in 1915, donated to San Francisco in 1922
Private collection, Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, MassachusettsOriginalBronze1906made for Ralph Pulitzer, sold for $15.3 million in 2013
Laeken Cemetery, BrusselsMonumentalBronze1906Alexis Rudier cast, installed on the grave of Jef Dillen in 1927
Ca' Pesaro, VeniceMonumentalPlaster, bronze-tinted1907purchased at the 1907 Biennale
Congressional Plaza, Buenos AiresMonumentalBronze1907Purchased by the museum director to Auguste Rodin, one of the three sculptures cast in the original mold and signed by him
Waldemarsudde, SwedenMonumentalBronze1908Alexis Rudier cast, for Prince Eugen of Norway and Sweden
Private collectionOriginalBronze1916sold for $11.8 million in 2010
Rodin's tomb, MeudonMonumentalBronze1916Alexis Rudier cast, placed at the grave when his wife died
Cleveland Museum of ArtMonumentalBronze1916Alexis Rudier cast, purchased 1916, badly damaged by vandalism in 1970, displayed in an unrepaired state
Musée Rodin at MeudonMonumentalPlaster, bronze-tinted1916the museum has several plaster casts in different sizes and of different ages

's Grawemeyer Hall in Louisville, Kentucky.

Later casts

Europe