The Thinker|Auguste Rodin |Search Collection | The National Museum of Western Art

Updated 26 September 2024

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Photo by (c) Norihiro Ueno

Currently not on display

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Auguste Rodin

Paris, 1840 - Meudon, 1917

The Thinker

Date	1881-82
Materials and Techniques	bronze
Size（cm）	71.5 x 45 x 60
Inscriptions	Signed right side of base: A. Rodin; foundry mark lower right back of base: Alexis. Rudier / Fondeur. PARIS
Credit Line	Matsukata Collection
Standard ref.	M1287
Category	Sculptures
Collection Number	S.1959-0039

This sculpture was originally conceived as a poet watching over hell in meditation, who appears at the top centre of Rodin's masterpiece, The Gates of Hell. Rodin later decided to place "a naked man, seated upon a rock, his feet drawn under him, his fist against his teeth, he dreams". Once "the fertile thought slowly elaborates itself within his brain", "he is no longer dreamer, he is creator". The Thinker was turned into a universal existence continuously in eternal thought of those destined to death, i.e. the (tragic) fate of the human being. From 1902 to ca. 1904, The Thinker was produced in an enlarged version, one of which stands in the forecourt of The National Museum of Western Art. (Source: The Digital Gallery. 1999-2006)

Provenance

Bought from Musée Rodin by Kojiro Matsukata, Kobe through Léonce Bénédite, ca. August 1919, as ‘Le penseur, demi-nature’ (Fr. 12,000) [see several letters between Bénédite and Suzuki & Co., August 1919, in Archives of Musée Rodin, Paris; copy in NMWA curatorial files]; sequestered by French government, 1944; vested in French government under San Francisco Peace Treaty, 1952; transferred from French to Japanese government, 23 January 1959; entered into NMWA, April 1959.

Exhibition History

1960: The Masterpieces of the Ex-Matsukata Collection, National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 14 May 1960 - 10 July 1960, S-39
1963: The Matsukata Collection of the National Museum of Western Art, The Shimane Prefectural Museum, Matsue, 5 October 1963 - 20 October 1963, S-039
1963: [Tour Exhibition] The Matsukata Collection of the National Museum of Western Art, The Ishibashi Museum of Art, Kurume, 26 October 1963 - 10 November 1963, S-039
1964: [Tour Exhibition] The Matsukata Collection of the National Museum of Western Art, The Nakajima Sports Center of Hokkaido Prefecture, 22 August 1964 - 13 September 1964, cat. no. 78
1965: [Tour Exhibition] The Matsukata Collection of the National Museum of Western Art, The Ishikawa Prefectural Museum of Art, Kanazawa, 22 September 1965 - 10 October 1965, cat. no. 57
1965: [Tour Exhibition] The Matsukata Collection of the National Museum of Western Art, The Cultural Center of Okayama Prefecture, Okayama, 20 October 1965 - 7 November 1965, cat. no. 57
1966: Rodin, National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 23 July 1966 - 11 September 1966, cat. no. 17
1966: [Tour Exhibition] The Matsukata Collection of the National Museum of Western Art, The Wakayama Prefectural Museum of Art, Wakayama, 15 October 1966 - 4 November 1966, cat. no. 55
1966: [Tour Exhibition] The Matsukata Collection of the National Museum of Western Art, The Cultural Center of Oita Prefecture, Oita, 12 November 1966 - 27 November 1966, cat. no. 55
1967: [Tour Exhibition] The Matsukata Collection of the National Museum of Western Art, The Kagoshima Municipal Museum of Art, 28 April 1967 - 21 May 1967, cat. no. 55
1968: [Tour Exhibition] The Matsukata Collection of the National Museum of Western Art, The Niigata Prefectural Museum, Niigata, 14 July 1968 - 4 August 1968, cat. no. 64
1968: [Tour Exhibition] The Matsukata Collection of the National Museum of Western Art, The Hiroshima Prefectural Museum of Art, Hiroshima, 26 October 1968 - 17 November 1968, cat. no. 64
1969: [Tour Exhibition] The Matsukata Collection of the National Museum of Western Art, The Cultural Center of Ibaraki Prefecture, Mito, 22 November 1969 - 21 December 1969, cat. no. 63
1970: [Tour Exhibition] The Matsukata Collection of the National Museum of Western Art, Nagasaki Prefectural Museum, Nagasaki, 18 October 1970 - 15 November 1970, cat. no. 67
1971: [Tour Exhibition] The Matsukata Collection of the National Museum of Western Art, The Toyama Prefectural Center, Museum of Art, Toyama, 2 October 1971 - 24 October 1971, cat. no. 62
1972: [Tour Exhibition] The Matsukata Collection of the National Museum of Western Art, The Shinano Museum of Art of Nagano Prefecture, Nagano, 12 October 1972 - 5 November 1972, cat. no. 67
1973: [Tour Exhibition] The Matsukata Collection of the National Museum of Western Art, The Cultural Center of Kochi Prefecture, Kochi, 28 October 1973 - 25 November 1973, cat. no. 71
1974: [Tour Exhibition] The Matsukata Collection of the National Museum of Western Art, The Cultural Center of Fukuoka Prefecture, Fukuoka, 13 October 1974 - 10 November 1974, cat. no. 69
1974: [Tour Exhibition] The Matsukata Collection of the National Museum of Western Art, The Saga Prefectural Museum, Saga, 16 November 1974 - 1 December 1974, cat. no. 69
1975: [Tour Exhibition] The Matsukata Collection of the National Museum of Western Art, The Yamagata Museum, Yamagata, 1 November 1975 - 30 November 1975, cat. no. 69
1976: [Tour Exhibition] The Matsukata Collection of the National Museum of Western Art, The Tottori Prefectural Museum, Tottori, 9 October 1976 - 7 November 1976, cat. no. 58
1977: [Tour Exhibition] The Matsukata Collection of the National Museum of Western Art, The Nara Prefectural Museum, Nara, 15 October 1977 - 13 November 1977, cat. no. 57
1978: [Tour Exhibition] Masterpieces from the National Museum of Western Art, The Art Center of Oita Prefecture, Oita, 20 December 1978 - 31 January 1979, cat. no. 63
1985: , The Museum of Modern Art, Saitama, 6 April 1985 - 6 May 1985, cat. no. 4, col. repr.
1988: [Tour Exhibition] Rodin, The Kurayoshi Museum, 13 May 1988 - 12 June 1988, cat. no. 12
1989: Rodin et la Porte de l’Enfer (Rodin and the Gates of Hell), National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 21 October 1989 - 17 December 1989, cat. no. 6
1990: [Tour Exhibition] The French Modern Art, from the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, Ibara Municipal Denchu Art Museum, 10 April 1990 - 23 April 1990, cat. no. 36
1990: [Tour Exhibition] The French Modern Art, from the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, The Cultural Center of Kagawa Prefecture, Takamatsu, 28 April 1990 - 13 May 1990, cat. no. 36
1990: [Tour Exhibition] The French Modern Art, from the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, The Cultural Center of Toyota City, 19 May 1990 - 3 June 1990, cat. no. 36
1991: [Tour Exhibition] The French Modern Art, from the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, The Hachinohe City Museum of Art, 28 September 1991 - 27 October 1991, cat. no. 36
1991: [Tour Exhibition] The French Modern Art, from the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, The Tendo City Museum of Art, Tendo, 1 November 1991 - 24 November 1991, cat. no. 36
1992: [Tour Exhibition] The French Modern Art, from the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, The Urasoe Art Museum, 3 November 1992 - 7 December 1992, cat. no. 36
1994: Kokuritsu Seiyo Bijyutsukan shozo sakuhin ni yoru yoroppa bijyutsu eno shotai, Karatsu City Library, 12 November 1994 - 11 December 1994, cat. no. 11, col. repr.
1995: Modern Japanese Art-Between the East and the West, Nagasaki Prefectural Art Museum, 1 November 1995 - 30 November 1995, cat. no. 119, col. repr.
1996: The Crossing Visions: European and Modern Japanese Art from the Collections of The National Museum of Western Art & The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, 20 July 1996 - 8 September 1996, cat. no. 106
1996: Rodin: Selected Works from National Museum of Western Art, Yorozu Tetsugoro Memorial Museum, Towacho, 10 October 1996 - 17 November 1996, cat. no. 16
2006: August Rodin / Eugène Carrière, National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 7 March 2006 - 4 June 2006, cat. no. 67
2012: Traces of Hands: Sculpture and Drawings by Rodin and Bourdelle from the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 3 November 2012 - 27 January 2013, cat. no. 66
2015: NO MUSEUM, NO LIFE?: Art-Museum Encyclopedia to Come: From the Collections of the National Museums of Art, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, 16 June 2015 - 13 September 2015, cat. no. P-1
2016: Odysseys, National Archaeological Museum of Athens, 3 October 2016 - 3 April 2017
2017: [Prints and Drawings Exhibition] Getting to the Gates of Hell: Rodin's Album Fenaille Drawings for Dante's Divine Comedy, The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, Prints and Drawings Gallery, 21 October 2017 - 28 January 2018, cat. no. 132
2019: The Matsukata Collection: A One-Hundred-Year Odyssey: Upon the 60th Anniversary of the NMWA, The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 11 June 2019 - 23 September 2019, cat. no. 80, col. repr.
2022: Renoir—Monet—Gauguin: Images of a Floating World: the Collections of Kōjirō Matsukata and Karl Ernst Osthaus, Museum Folkwang, 6 February 2022 - 15 May 2022

Bibliography

1937: Bourdelle, Antoine. La sculpture et Rodin. Emile-Paul, 1937, p. 55.
1966: Butler, Ruth. The Early Work of Rodin and Its Background. UMI Research Press, 1966, pp. 218-223.
1967: Champigneulle, Bernard. Rodin. London, Thames and Hadson, 1967, pp. 130-133.
1969: Jianou, lonel et Goldscheider, C. Rodin. Paris, Arted Editions d'Art, 1969, p. 88.
1976: Tancock, John L. The Sculpture of Auguste Rodin. Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1976, no. 3.
1979: Auguste Rodin: Plastik, Zeichungen, Graphik (exh. cat.). Berlin, Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin/DDR, 1979, no. 9.
1984: Rodin (exh. cat.). Martigny, Fondation Pierre Gianadda, 1984 , no. 6.
1985: Ogiwara Morie to Nihon no Kindai Chokoku. [Urawa], The Museum of Modern Art, Saitama, 1985 , no. 4.
1986: Lampert, Catherine. Rodin Sculpture and Drawing. London, Arts Council of Great Britain, 1986, no. 74.
1988: Rodin: Selected Works from The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. The National Museum of Western Art ed. Kurayoshi Museum, 1988, no. 12.
1989: Claude Monet-Auguste Rodin (exh. cat.). Paris, Musée Rodin, 1989, no. 24.
1989: Rodin et la Porte de l'Enfer (exh. cat.). The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 1989, no. 6.
1990: The Old Matsukata Collection. Kobe City Museum, ed. Kobe, "Matsukata Korekushon Ten" Jikkoiinkai, 1990, cat. no. S-53.
1990: Le Normand-Romain, Antoinette. "Torse du Belvédère". Le Corps en morceaux. Musée d'Orsay, Paris, 5 February - 3 June 1990; Schirn Kunsthalle, Francfort, 23 June - 26 Aug. 1990, Réunion des musées nationaux, 1990, pp. 110-111.
1992: The French Modern Art, from The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo (exh. cat.). The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, ed. Okinawa, Urasoe Art Museum, 1992, pp. 46-47, cat. no. 36, col. repr
1994: Kokuritsu Seiyo Bijutsukan Shozo Sakuhin ni Yoru Europa Bijutsu e no Shotai (exh. cat.). Karatsu City Library; National Museum of Wetsern Art. Karatsu, Karatsu City Library, 1994, cat. no. 11, col. repr.
1995: Modern Japanese Art: Between the East and the West (exh. cat.). National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, ed. [Nagasaki], Nagasaki Prefectural Art Museum, 1995, pp. 124, 143, 151, cat. no. 119, col. repr.
1996: Auguste Rodin: Eros und Leidenschaft (exh. cat.). Wien, Kunsthistorisches, 1996, pp. 166-168, no. 16.
1996: Le Normand-Romain, Antoinette. Rodin: le musée et ses collections. Paris, Éditions Scala; Musée Rodin, 1996, pp. 36-37.
1997: Rodin and Michelangelo: A Study in Artistic Inspiration. Philadelphia, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1997, no. 19.
1999: French Sculpture. Copenhagen, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, 1999, no. 117-178
2000: Butler, Ruth. European Sculpture of Nineteenth Century. Washington, National Gallery of Art, 2000, pp.　321-326.
2001: Le Normand-Romain, Antoinette. Rodin en 1900: l'exposition de l'alma (exh. cat.). Musée du Luxembourg, 12 March - 15 July 2001, Paris, Réunion des musées nationaux, 2001, no. 113.
2001: Marraud, Hélène. Rodin et le Japon (exh. cat.). [Tokyo], Gendai Chokoku Center, 2001 , no. 191-192.
2002: Victor Hugo vu par Rodin (exh. cat.). Musée des beaux-arts et d'archéologie de Besançon, 4 October 2002 - 27 January, 2003. Besançon, Paris/ Somogy édition d'art; Musée des Beaux-Arts et d'Archéologie de Besançon, 2002, no. 35.
2003: Le Normand-Romain, Antoinette. D'ombre et de marbre: Hugo face à Rodin (exh. cat.). Paris, Maison de Victor Hugo, 2003, no. 2.
2003: Elsen, Albert. Rodin's Art: The Rodin Collection of the Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford University. Barryte, Bernard ed. New York, Oxford University Press, 2003, no. 38.
2004: Mitchell, Claudine. "Rodin and the Baudelairian Legacy: Arthur Symons on the sculptor as Poet". Rodin: The Zola of Sculpture. Aldershot, Ashgate Publishing, 2004, pp. 73-94.
2005: Le parcours d'un génie. Kyoto, Tankosya, 2005, nos. 21-22, p. 356.
2019: The Matsukata Collection: A One-Hundred-Year Odyssey (exh. cat.). Jingaoka, Megumi, ed. Tokyo, The National Museum of the Western Art, Tokyo; Yomiuri Shimbun; NHK; NHK Promotions, 2019, pp. 161, 163, 362, cat. no. 80, col. repr.
2019: The Matsukata Collection: Complete Catalogue of the European Art. Kawaguchi, Masako; Jingaoka, Megumi, eds. vol. 2: Sculpture, Drawings, Prints and Decorative Arts and Other Works, Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 2019, cat. no. 1287, col. repr.
2022: Renoir—Monet—Gauguin: Images of a Floating World: the Collections of Kōjirō Matsukata and Karl Ernst Osthaus (exh.cat.). Engel, Nadine; Herlemann, Rebecca, eds. Berlin, Hatje Cantz, [2022], p. 229, col. repr.

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