It is often said that impressionism not only breathed new life into painting, but also into sculpture. Auguste Rodin (years of life - 1840-1917) is the first ingenious sculptor since Bernini who transformed this art form when Monet and Manet transformed painting. In his work, however, he did not follow in the footsteps of these artists. And of course, it was impossible without the help of paints, in a three-dimensional image to achieve the same impression that “River” and “Flutist” produce. A photo of Auguste Rodin is presented below.
The Thinker in the history of sculpture
The statue of Rodin's The Thinker is not similar to any of the previously created plastic forms. In the history of sculpture, a person who is in a thought process was often portrayed. For example, in the Renaissance, almost every sculptural group bears the stamp of spiritual torment, and, consequently, the character’s thoughts in an instant stopped by the author. However, the Thinker figure is something completely new. Roden was able to convey only with the help of a pose the state of his hero.
The Mysterious Image of The Thinker
It is curious that Jean Bo, a Frenchman, a muscular boxer who performed mainly in Paris, served as a model for him (as for many other works of this sculptor). It was he who this time posed for Rodin.
The Thinker is a highly controversial image. For many years, disputes about what made the Rodenovsky hero think so deeply have not ceased. With its mysteriousness, The Thinker is similar to the Mona Lisa created by da Vinci. As her smile conceals something intimate, so the pose of the figure does not allow us to understand what this person is thinking about. Far from being straightforward in this Rodin. The Thinker, the photo of which is presented below, is a work that not only depicts reflection, but also for more than a century makes us think about the meaning of this work by many art lovers.
It is hard to imagine today a more complete embodiment of painful and inquisitive human thought than the image that interests us. The following description can be given.
Rodin, The Thinker: Description of the Sculpture
Holding his chin up, a naked titan sits. His thoughts were sad, they made his face sad, and his powerful back was bent. Deep shadows fall from beneath a cap of hair hanging over his face. Sharp wrinkles lay on the bridge of the nose, and the mouth, slightly displaced due to the movement of the hand, gives the face asymmetry. If you look at this statue on the right, it seems that, thinking, a man bit his hand with his teeth. However, not only the head - it seems that the whole body of this titan is thinking, trying to find a way out of the tangle of contradictions. The movement of the leg and bent arms to the right, the sharp line of the nose and forehead, the inclination of the back make this figure extremely tense, springy. The impression on the other hand is changing. The left hand dropped limply on the knee. His fingers do not grab him, they just hang in the air.
The vast majority of various plastic masters paid maximum attention to hands. Hands and facial expressions are the basics that convey the character of the depicted characters. That was the tradition. If the predecessors of Auguste found hands, as a rule, some occupation (they held something, squeezed or expressed movement, for example, pointing to something), then Roden does not follow the experience of other sculptors. And precisely in such inaction lies the power of thought conveyed by the author.
What the Thinker thinks, according to Andrei Suzdaltsev
What is the Thinker thinking? Rodin, according to Andrei Suzdaltsev in an article published in the journal Decision, wanted to convey the following. Bent like a spring, a naked man is organized plastically around his head - the main center. All the most important things that happen to him happen precisely in her. There is a sensation of the flow of thought, the tension transmitted to the brain by the whole spring of this bent body. Here we are dealing with a system closed to itself. This thinking person does not need anyone. It is self-sufficient in principle. The thinker is cocked like a clock. This is a hero of thought, a lone hero. He hardly thinks about how to help the washerwoman from Montmartre or the beggar from the streets of Paris. The thinker reflects on the fate of the world. He thinks of himself, of eternity, of life and death.
Some may agree with Andrei Suzdaltsev, while others put forward their own versions, in which the answers will fundamentally differ from the above opinions. For over a hundred years, humanity has not left indifferent the creation of Rodin. Below is another photo of this famous sculptor.
The Thinker and the fetus in the womb
Andrei Suzdaltsev noticed one interesting thing. The pose of the thinking person, in spite of his greatness, on the heroism of the thought act, on the massiveness of muscles, a fuzzy hint, treacherously, elusively drifts and drifts to the fetal position in the womb. As a great artist and thinker, Rodin could not help but talk about the path of knowledge, the center and means of which is the intellect. Before us is not a hero of the spirit, but only an emerging little man on the path to true formation. This is a baby, an embryo. It can also be noted here that the very idea of sculpture suggests that the idea of this figure is in the stage of embryo.
Remarks S.A. Mussky
Much has been said about the work of interest to us in a scientific work entitled "100 Great Sculptors" (author - S. A. Mussky). The art historian writes that Roden did not try to catch deceptive optical effects in the statue. He only sought to convey the process of "growth" - a miracle of revitalization under the hands of the artist of dead material. Insisting on the incompleteness beloved by Rodin, he saved his sculpture from mechanical copying of reality.
This image was created for the "Gates of Hell." Therefore, we will tell a little about this work by Auguste Rodin.
The story of the creation of the "Gate of Hell"
In France in 1880, it was decided to build a museum of decorative arts. Auguste Rodin ordered a monumental bronze door for him. The theme of the bas-reliefs depicted on the doors was to be the "Divine Comedy" created by Dante.
Rodin, creating The Gates of Hell, cast in bronze only in 1925, not only rethought the images of Dante in his work, but also somewhat altered the biblical, mythological subjects, as well as The Last Judgment by Michelangelo and the works of Charles Baudelaire, his beloved poet. In 1888, this sculptor made ink and pen illustrations for the collection, in which he conveyed with particular strength the struggle between the spiritual and sensual principles. Stylistically, the figures depicted on the "Gates of Hell" are closer to Baudelaire, and not to Dante. They swam out of the frame, bent, groaning from pain and passion, overlapping one another. In 1887, Auguste Rodin himself said that one should not look here for a methodical or orderly plot, moral foundations or connected images. He followed imagination, a sense of composition and movement.
Composition "Gates of Hell"
"The Gates of Hell" - this is perhaps the greatest work of this sculptor, already after the death of the creator embodied in the material. For the whole 37 years Auguste Rodin worked on it. The Thinker, as we have already mentioned, is part of this composition.
Initially, many famous sculptures were created as part of this large-scale creation. 186 figures contain seven-meter "Gates". They should have been initially framed by statues of Adam and Eve, the first sinners, but Rodin later abandoned this idea. The figure of Adam, however, became the basis of the composition crowning the portal of "Three Shadows." Beneath it is a bottomless abyss that absorbs the souls of many sinners.
Many figures made for the "Gates of Hell" later became independent works. The Rodin Thinker statue was one of them. This sculpture captures the image of Dante, although there is no external resemblance between the statue and the creator of "Divine Comedy".
Other opinions about the Thinker
Who is the Thinker? Partly it is Prometheus. But in it you can also find a captive of carnal passions, overwhelming this man. Wisely, Rodin refrained from calling the sculpture by someone’s name. All the same, the statue could not correspond to the similarity outlined in advance. The form and content in this innovative image are fused together. Like Michelangelo’s nudes, The Thinker is far from being fake for stripped sitters. Like these figures, he personifies a sealed action at rest.
However, Auguste Rodin was by nature his sculptor and he worked, unlike Michelangelo, not with a stone. For casting in bronze, each of his best works was created. All their power can be appreciated by considering plaster casts made from Rodin's clay originals.
In the town of Meudon, located in France, is the tomb of Auguste Rodin. The sculptor of interest to us is buried in the garden, and a figure that immortalized his memory rises sadly and solemnly above his ashes. This, of course, is one of the most famous works that Rodin created - The Thinker. A photo of the grave with this statue is presented below.
Features of the creative process in Rodin
Rodin created all his works on the basis of careful study of nature. Fearing premeditation, artificiality, falsehood, he limited himself only to a verbal definition for the sitter's pose. This also applies to the Rodin Thinker statue. Jean Bo posed freely, naturally. Auguste, as was always the case in his work, did not specifically correct the position of the body. He loved to observe human figures in a natural movement, looking at sitters who were in the workshop but had no task to pose. Today it is difficult to imagine a more complete embodiment of the painful and inquisitive human thought than the sculpture "The Thinker". This image is very popular. Often used as a cartoon by Rodin's The Thinker. This suggests that this figure is so famous that it is recognizable to all.