It is one of the world's most famous modern statues, yet many people do not realize that there is more than one of Auguste Rodin's "The Thinker". In fact, best guess is that 20 of the larger-than-life bronze and marble creations, broadly taken to represent intellect, were cast from the 1902 original.
Original thinking
The original is in Paris, presiding and pondering over the sculpture garden at home, Musée Rodin, in the 7th arrondissement which was the artist's sometime studio known as the Hôtel Biron.
Closer to home
Although Philadelphia's Rodin Museum contains the largest collection outside of Paris, we are fortunate in the San Francisco Bay Area to have collections displaying an abundance of Auguste Rodin's works.
Palace of the Legion of Honor
Alma de Bretteville Spreckels had money to spare as the wife of the sugar baron, Adolph B. Spreckels. She purchased, and later donated, this cast of "The Thinker" that sits before the entrance to the museum after meeting the artist through a mutual acquaintance in Paris in 1914. A major art collector, "The Great Grandmother of San Francisco" was inspired to build this three-quarters scale adaptation of the left-bank Paris building of the same name to permanently showcase her collection. There are more than 70 Rodin pieces at the Legion of Honor, including "The Kiss". Closed on Mondays, see website for directions and admission.
Stanford University's Cantor Arts Center
Less than one hour south in Palo Alto, an even larger cache of Rodin works is found at Stanford University's Cantor Art Center, where 200 of the artist's works are found in three galleries with about 20 located out-of-doors on the stunning campus. Importantly, "The Gates of Hell" may be seen here and "The Burghers of Calais" are found on a nearby lawn as six separate figures rather than as one piece. The museum is named for B. Gerald Cantor, primary donor of this fine collection. "The Thinker" which calls Stanford home was recently on loan for two years to the North Carolina Museum of Art and is now back, still thinking, in the Susan and John Diekman Gallery. Admission is free and docents lead tours three times a week.
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