The Thinker (Le Penseur) 1904

This plaster cast of *The Thinker* sits here at the Met, but in my mind Rodin is still working on it, his hands covered in clay, pushing and prodding, trying to realize some idea. What was he thinking? I look at the texture of the figure, the play of light on the rippling muscles, and I wonder about the original impulse behind the sculpture. Is he thinking hard? Is he pooping? I love the ambiguity, the unresolved tension of the work. It's like a question mark rendered in human form. The gesture, with his chin resting on his hand, has become iconic, shorthand for deep contemplation. But maybe he’s just having a really hard time. Maybe Rodin was too, sculpting him. I see Rodin in conversation with sculptors of the past, riffing on classical forms, but also pushing against them, injecting a dose of raw, modern feeling. Like all great artists, he's not just creating an object, he’s working through an idea, and inviting us to join the conversation.