# The Thinker > Auguste Rodin - Conceived 1880 for The Gates of Hell; enlarged c. 1903-1904; this cast 1904 > Canonical HTML: https://iconotheca.com/artworks/auguste-rodin/rodin-the-thinker/ > Published by Servola Systems GmbH. Last verified: 2026-08-29 ## Tombstone - **Artist:** Auguste Rodin - **Date:** Conceived 1880 for The Gates of Hell; enlarged c. 1903-1904; this cast 1904 - **Medium:** Bronze, cast by the Alexis Rudier foundry, Paris - **Dimensions:** H. 189 cm; W. 98 cm; D. 140 cm (Musee Rodin) - **Object type:** Sculpture - **Period:** Symbolism, 1880-1910 - **Current location:** Garden of the Musee Rodin, Hotel Biron, 77 rue de Varenne, Paris - **Attribution:** accepted ## Summary The monumental Thinker in the garden of the Musee Rodin is the bronze that Alexis Rudier poured in 1904, that Parisians paid for by public subscription, that stood in front of the Pantheon from 1906, and that was moved to the Hotel Biron in 1922. It is French state property, it has never been offered for sale, and it is one of a large number of bronzes of the same figure.That last fact is the reason this record exists. Rodin modelled in clay and never cast metal himself, so a bronze signed A. Rodin is the product of a chain of authority rather than of his hand. In 1916 he gave his works, his plasters and his rights to France, and the Musee Rodin has cast from those plasters ever since. French law treats an edition of sculpture as original only within a limit of twelve, and the museum numbers its editions 1/8 to 8/8 and I/IV to IV/IV. Outside that limit a cast is a reproduction and must say so on its own surface.Two Thinkers of identical appearance can therefore be separated by a factor of a hundred in value, and in 2019 a Paris court convicted two dealers over roughly 1,700 casts made from genuine Rodin plasters and sold without the word reproduction on them. This record sets out where the line falls, how it is worded, and what a buyer has to establish before believing a Thinker is what the seller says it is. ## Provenance Every link carries a grade. `documented` means a cited source supports it, `disputed` means the identification is argued but not established, `unknown` means we have no owner for that span and have not bridged it. - **1880-c. 1903** Auguste Rodin `[documented]` (origin) Modelled in 1880 as The Poet for The Gates of Hell, a doorway commissioned by the French state for a museum of decorative arts that was never built, and placed in the centre of the tympanum. Renamed The Thinker by foundry workers after Michelangelo's Il Penseroso. Exhibited independently from 1888. The enlargement date is unsettled: the Musee Rodin catalogue gives 1904, its own resource page gives 1903, Wikipedia gives 1902. - **1904-1906** Auguste Rodin `[documented]` (casting) Cast by the Fonderie Alexis Rudier, Paris, in 1904, the year the enlarged version was first shown publicly at the Salon. The whereabouts of this bronze between the pour and the 1906 installation are not recorded in the sources consulted. - **1906-1922** City of Paris `[documented]` (gift by public subscription) Bought by public subscription and given to the people of Paris, then installed on the forecourt of the Pantheon. The stone plinth carries the inscription LE PENSEUR DE RODIN OFFERT PAR SOUSCRIPTION PUBLIQUE AU PEUPLE DE PARIS MCMVI, legible in plate 1, and the same plinth appears under the same bronze in the 1918 autochrome at plate 3. The organiser of the subscription and the sum raised are not established. - **1922-present** Musee Rodin, Paris (French national collections) `[documented]` (transfer) Transferred to the Musee Rodin in 1922 and installed in the garden of the Hotel Biron, inventory S.01295, where it remains. As state property it is inalienable and has never been offered for sale. ## Auction results Hammer and buyer's premium are stated separately. Where a source conflates them this record says so. - **2013-05-07** Sotheby's, - Estimate: USD 8,000,000 - 12,000,000 - Hammer: Not published - With premium: USD 15,285,000 - NOT THIS OBJECT. Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale, New York, sale N08987, lot 45: Le Penseur, taille de la Porte dit moyen modele, 71.5 cm, conceived 1880-81, cast 1906, foundry mark Alexis Rudier Fondeur Paris, signed A. Rodin, with a plaque reading Le Penseur: Execute en 1906 dans mes ateliers et sous ma surveillance pour Monsieur Ralph Pulitzer, Auguste Rodin. Provenance Ralph Pulitzer, New York (1906), later William S. Paley. A record for the figure. Sotheby's does not publish the hammer; the 15,285,000 figure is reported as hammer with buyer's premium and should not be quoted as hammer. Listed here as the benchmark for a documented lifetime cast, not as a sale of the object in this record, which is French state property. - **2022** Christie's, - Estimate: EUR 9,000,000 - 14,000,000 - Hammer: Not separately reported - With premium: EUR 10,700,000 reported as the price achieved - NOT THIS OBJECT. Paris. A posthumous cast at about 70 cm, the original model size, cast around 1928, from a private Paris collection. Reported at EUR 10,700,000, given in dollars as about 11.1 to 11.4 million depending on the outlet and the conversion date. Press coverage does not separate hammer from premium; treat the euro figure as the reported total until Christie's own record is consulted. The source consulted dates the sale 1 July 2022; a preview article dated 7 April 2022 also circulated, so the date is unresolved. The same coverage described it as one of roughly forty authentic casts without stating at which size, which is a press claim and not a census. - **2016-02** Sotheby's, - Estimate: Not recorded in the source consulted - Hammer: Not reported - With premium: GBP 1,568,750 (about USD 1,900,000) - NOT THIS OBJECT. London. Penseur, petit modele, cast 1920-1930. Included to fix the bottom of the range: the same composition, at the small size, in a posthumous cast, at roughly one eighth of the price a documented lifetime cast reached. The dollar figure is a conversion and is date-dependent. Whether the sterling figure is hammer or premium-inclusive is not stated in the source; auction reporting of this kind is normally premium-inclusive. ## Exhibitions - Salon de la Societe Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Paris - the enlarged version shown publicly for the first time; sources differ on whether the object exhibited was the plaster or a bronze, 1904 ## Open questions - When exactly was The Thinker enlarged? The Musee Rodin catalogue entry says 1904, the museum's own page on Rodin's working method says 1903, and Wikipedia says 1902. Lebosse's studio records would settle it. - What marks does the bronze S.01295 itself carry? The plinth inscription is legible in plate 1, but no published source consulted records the signature placement, foundry stamp or any other mark on this specific cast. - Who organised the 1906 public subscription that bought this cast for Paris, and how much was raised? The plinth records the fact of the subscription and nothing else. - Where was this bronze between the 1904 pour and the 1906 installation in front of the Pantheon? - How many monumental casts exist in total, and how many are lifetime? Published counts range from about 22 to about 29 for monumental casts, Cleveland says fewer than ten monumental lifetime casts, and press coverage of the 2022 sale cited roughly 40 authentic casts without saying at which size. No consolidated census has been located. - What were the hammer prices in the 2013 Sotheby's and 2022 Christie's sales? Both reported figures appear to be premium-inclusive; the hammer is withheld or not reported. - What is the exact date of the 2022 Christie's Paris sale? The article consulted gives 1 July 2022; a preview article dated 7 April 2022 also circulated. Christie's own sale record would resolve it. - How many casts does the Musee Rodin currently produce each year, and what share of its budget do they fund? The museum publishes the rules and the committee process but no figures were located. - Of the more than six thousand casts Guy Hain is estimated to have produced beyond those seized, roughly two thirds remain untraced. How many are Thinkers, and where are they? ## Sources - [1] Musee Rodin, collection entry for The Thinker, inventory S.01295: bronze, H. 189 cm, W. 98 cm, D. 140 cm, cast by the Fonderie Alexis Rudier in 1904, transferred to the Musee Rodin in 1922, with the account of its origin as The Poet on The Gates of Hell and the 1906 Pantheon installation. - [2] Musee Rodin, 'Respecting Rodin's moral right'. Primary statement of the twelve-cast limit numbered 1/8 to 8/8 and I/IV to IV/IV including existing original editions; the requirement that reproductions be marked visibly and indelibly; the museum's refusal to authorise use of its plasters and moulds; Article 121-1. - [3] Musee Rodin, 'Original bronze casts'. 'The number of bronzes that may be cast from an original work is limited to twelve'; the museum traditionally acquires one of the twelve for the national collections; validation by two committees of French and foreign sculpture experts under an ethical charter. - [4] Musee Rodin, 'The Musee Rodin, the artist's heir'. The 1916 donation of works, collections, archives and rights to the French state in exchange for the Hotel Biron; the transfer of moulds and models so the museum could produce original bronze casts; the museum as holder of the moral rights. - [5] Legifrance, Code de la propriete intellectuelle, Article R122-3. Primary legal text. Paragraph b: 'Les editions de sculpture, dans la limite de douze exemplaires, exemplaires numerotes et epreuves d'artiste confondus.' - [6] Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation, 'Laws that Govern the Casting of Rodin's Work'. The 1956 law limiting casting to twelve examples of each size, the 1968 law requiring the date of the cast to be inscribed, and the 1981 numbering system splitting the twelve into 1/8-8/8 for public sale and I/IV-IV/IV for institutions. - [7] The IPKat, 'French Moral Rights May Prevent Copy of Rodin's Public Domain Sculptures'. Article L.121-1 perpetual moral rights; the February 1993 decree vesting enforcement in the Musee Rodin and requiring authorised casts to come from museum moulds and plasters; Article 8 of decree no. 81-255 of 3 March 1981 on marking reproductions; the Gruppo Mondiale dispute. - [8] Musee Rodin, 'Multiples, fragments, assemblages'. Rodin's use of casting as part of invention; Henri Lebosse employed from 1894; the Collas pantograph machine; the enlargement of The Thinker dated 1903 on this page; marcottage and visible joins. - [9] Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation, 'Reductions and Enlargements'. The Collas machine of 1836; Rodin's collaboration with Lebosse and his rejection of imperfect results; The Thinker conceived at 28 inches, reduced to 14 3/4 inches and enlarged to 79 inches. - [10] Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation, 'In Rodin's Studio'. As many as fifty assistants after 1900, including Bourdelle, Claudel, Despiau and Hoffmann; 'Although Rodin would supervise, he rarely participated in the creation of these marbles or bronzes'; casting done off site at selected Paris foundries. - [11] Victoria and Albert Museum, 'Auguste Rodin: production techniques'. Clay to plaster to bronze; sand casting as the main method for sculptural multiples in Rodin's Paris; lost wax and the Montagutelli Freres; Alexis Rudier as a founder Rodin trusted; patination in stages; more than 300 lifetime bronze casts of The Kiss. - [12] Musee Rodin, 'Lost-wax bronze casting'. The gelatin mould, the core, the wax print retouched and signed, the burnout, the pour, then cutting the supply network, crumbling the core, chasing and polishing, and patination by controlled corrosion; bronzes are hollow. - [13] Tate, 'The Making of Rodin' exhibition guide. Clay requiring constant moisture and Rose Beuret's role; plaster casts allowing repeated revision; Lebosse and the pantograph; large sculptures dismantled and enlarged piece by piece; assemblage and reuse of heads. - [14] The Art Newspaper, 'Two art dealers sentenced over fake-genuine Rodin sculptures after 18 year legal battle', 24 April 2019. Gary Snell and Robert Crouzet sentenced; EUR 500,000 damages to the Musee Rodin with Gruppo Mondiale; about 1,700 casts made in Vicenza at about EUR 40,000 each; the court's finding that the casts were unlawful because they lacked reproduction markings and carried Rodin's signature and foundry marks. - [15] VW Art, 'The saga of the real fake Rodin sculptures'. Detail on the Gruppo Mondiale case: about 1,700 bronzes from roughly 52 Rodin moulds, the works cast including The Kiss, The Thinker and The Hand of God, the numbered editions and certificates, the Musee Rodin complaint of March 2001 and the procedural history. Secondary; to be replaced with the Paris court judgment. - [16] Wikipedia, 'Guy Hain'. The Rudier connection, the substitution of the Alexis Rudier mark for that of Georges Rudier, the twenty metric tons seized in January 1992, Gilles Perrault's estimate of more than 6,000 copies with only a third traced, the trial of 17 January 1996 and the four-year sentence of which eighteen months were served. Tertiary; flagged for replacement with the French court record and Perrault's own report. - [17] Sotheby's, Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale, New York, sale N08987, 7 May 2013, lot 45: Le Penseur, taille de la Porte dit moyen modele, conceived 1880-81, cast 1906, 71.5 cm, foundry mark Alexis Rudier Fondeur Paris, signed A. Rodin, with the Ralph Pulitzer inscription; provenance and estimate USD 8-12 m. Price realised withheld behind a login on the lot page. - [18] Robin Rile Fine Art, 'World record price for Rodin's Thinker'. Gives the result as USD 15,285,000 explicitly labelled hammer price with buyer's premium, against a previous record of USD 12 m. Secondary; flagged for replacement with the Sotheby's published result. - [19] Paul Fraser Collectibles, 'Rodin's The Thinker cast estimated at $12m'. Preview of the 7 May 2013 Sotheby's New York sale, the 1906 Alexis Rudier cast for Ralph Pulitzer and the plaque confirming Rodin's supervision, comparison sales including a Le Penseur cast sold in Sweden in December 2012 for USD 2.3 m, and a claim of 28 known original casts. - [20] Daily Sabah, 'Posthumous cast of Rodin's The Thinker sells for $11.4M in Paris'. Christie's Paris, a cast of about 70 cm made around 1928, estimate EUR 9-14 m, result EUR 10.7 m (about USD 11.14 m), described as one of roughly 40 authentic casts. Date given as 1 July 2022; unresolved against an April 2022 preview. - [21] Judd Tully, 'Appraising Rodin'. David Norman on lifetime casts and on 1920s casts retaining strength because the patinas were applied by craftsmen who had worked with Rodin; Guy Hain's exploitation of the Alexis Rudier lifetime appellation; Penseur, petit modele, cast 1920-1930, GBP 1,568,750 at Sotheby's London, February 2016; L'eternel printemps USD 20.4 m, Sotheby's New York, May 2016. - [22] Cleveland Museum of Art, accession 1917.42, The Thinker: bronze, 182.9 x 98.4 x 142.2 cm, weight 1,650 lb, gift of Ralph King, dated 1880-81, with the museum's statement that 'this enlarged version of The Thinker is one of less than 10 cast during Rodin's lifetime' and the account of the figure's origin on The Gates of Hell. The published record carries no provenance text. - [23] Cleveland Historical, 'The Thinker: Cleveland's Philosopher King'. Installed 1917; the bomb of 24 March 1970 at about 1 am, equivalent to three sticks of dynamite, which destroyed the pedestal and the lower legs; the decision to reinstall without repair; attribution to a Cleveland faction of the Weather Underground with no charges brought; ongoing conservation with Incralac. - [24] Wikipedia, 'List of The Thinker sculptures'. Cast-by-cast list including Louisville 1903 (A. A. Hebrard, lost wax), Detroit 1903 (Alexis Rudier, sand cast), Musee Rodin Paris 1904 installed outside the Pantheon in 1906 and moved to the garden in 1922, Legion of Honor 1904 (Alexis Rudier), Meudon 1916 on Rodin's grave, Cleveland 1916, and the Laren theft of 2007 with restoration and re-exhibition in 2010. Tertiary; flagged for replacement with the Musee Rodin's own census. - [25] Wikipedia, 'The Thinker'. Origin as The Poet on The Gates of Hell, the renaming by foundry workers after Michelangelo's Il Penseroso, the first small plaster of about 1881 and first bronze of 1884, the enlargement to 181 cm dated 1902 on this page, the 1904 Salon and the public subscription that placed a cast in front of the Pantheon, and the note that the progression from models to castings is still not entirely clear. Tertiary; flagged for replacement with the Musee Rodin catalogue and Tancock. - [26] Wikipedia, 'Auguste Rodin'. Three rejections by the Ecole des Beaux-Arts from 1857; the 1877 surmoulage accusation over The Age of Bronze and Rodin's exoneration; his use of assistants to re-sculpt compositions at larger sizes, cast them and carve his marbles; the bequest of his studio and the right to make casts from his plasters; death at Meudon on 17 November 1917 and the cast of The Thinker placed at his tomb at his own wish; the post-1956 laws limiting reproduction to twelve casts. Tertiary; flagged for replacement with the Musee Rodin archive and a standard monograph. - [27] The Daumier Register, 'Bronze surmoulage'. Definition of a surmoulage as a bronze reproduction taken from an existing sculpture; the observation that such copies come out smaller because of mould shrinkage in baking and shrinkage on cooling; the absence of foundry marks and edition numbers as a detection signal; Guy Hain's unnumbered, uncacheted casts. - [28] Musee Rodin, collection entry for The Thinker at Meudon, inventory S.02838: bronze, H. 189 cm, W. 98 cm, D. 140 cm, the colossal enlargement dated 1904, with a cast in the Meudon garden on the tomb of the sculptor and his wife. Foundry not given on the page. - [29] Oglethorpe University Museum of Art, 'Auguste Rodin: The Thinker'. Source for the Rodin quotation, cited there to Saturday Night, Toronto, 1 December 1917, as given in John Tancock, The Sculpture of Auguste Rodin, 1976. The museum's own cast is described as modelled 1880, reduced 1903 and cast about 1931 by the Alexis Rudier foundry. - [30] Wikimedia Commons, file description and image, 'File:Le Penseur Musee Rodin Paris S.1295.jpg', CC0, geolocated to the Musee Rodin garden and identified by the museum inventory number. The plinth inscription LE PENSEUR DE RODIN OFFERT PAR SOUSCRIPTION PUBLIQUE AU PEUPLE DE PARIS MCMVI is legible in the image and is the direct evidence for the 1906 subscription recorded in the provenance. - [31] Wikimedia Commons, file description, 'File:The Gates of Hell - Auguste Rodin - FONDERIE DE COUBERTIN - Musee Rodin 1992 Nr 6-8.jpg', transcribing the inscription of the Shizuoka Prefectural Museum of Art's cast as 'A.Rodin FONDERIE DE COUBERTIN (c) By MUSEE Rodin 1992 No 6/8 FC', accession 987, sourced to the museum's own object record. --- Images on this record are public domain or CC0 and are hosted by us. No image on this site is generated or simulated. 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