For more than a century, viewers have admired the masterpieces of Auguste Rodin. This French sculptor became an innovator in his field. The master's talent was so great that he was even accused of making plaster casts directly from the sitters' faces. The sculpture “The Thinker” is called the crowning achievement of Rodin’s creation. Some little-known facts about its creation will be discussed.
The event was also attended by the Santiago Philharmonic Orchestra, Santiago Meza and soprano Vinamarina Angela Marambio, tenor Gonzalo Tomcouaac and violinist Esteban Sepulveda, who performed a magnificent repertoire of outstanding works such as Beethoven, Strauss and others.
It is Rodin's most famous work and one of the most famous sculptures of all time. Originally called "The Poet", it sought to present Dante before the "Gates of Hell". This is a man sitting, lying down in a pose of thought and reflection, but Rodin goes beyond the idealized idea of a person to convey universal feelings and deep concern for the future of man, which gives a great psychological load to the work.
"The Thinker" was originally intended to be part of "Hell's Gate"
Initially, the sculpture in the form of a seated, hunched man was to become the central figure in Rodin’s work “The Gates of Hell”. It was planned to be much more modest in size than “The Thinker,” which is located in the Rodin Museum in Paris.
“The Gates of Hell”, cast after the sculptor’s death
In bronze in its original form, the work, located next to the water source and in front of the Las Salinas Maritime Museum, is 89 m high with a base 40 m in diameter and weighs 650 kg. It should be noted that with this donation, in the municipality of Viña del Mar there are two great creations of this outstanding French sculptor, such as La Defense, which is located on the facades of the Carrasco Palace, headquarters of the Department of Culture of the municipality of Viña del Mar.
After the ceremony, the businessman invited the authorities, some television personalities and media mass media for lunch at the Municipal Casino of Viña del Mar. “Fame and stoicism shaped the fabric of Rodin’s fruitful existence, fame and stoicism re-twisted the threads of fate to weave the cloak of one of our noblest figures.”
When the decision was made to build a Museum in Paris in 1880 decorative arts, Auguste Rodin was commissioned to create massive bronze doors for him. The sculptor decided to make bas-reliefs on them based on “ Divine Comedy» Dante. However, over 37 years of work, neither the order nor the museum itself were ever fully completed. The Gates of Hell was cast in bronze only after Rodin's death.
His works were where his residence was in Paris, today in the Rodin Museum. Rodin enters into the unfolding of aesthetic trends of his century. His figure appears with the same controlled slowness with which the wills, which during this period of time had great meaning for the picture, were brought to the surface. Rodin works alone: that’s the difference. While in painting renewal is effected by a continuity of alternating efforts, in sculpture he takes upon himself the whole burden of the task.
The handling of the figure seems to be a pretext in the constant search inner world. There are eras in which governments present proposals that are expressed in the exaltation of progress and exaltation, deciding to honor heroes, confirming historical facts and the construction of architectural spaces, which consequently produce an enrichment of the national. This action is enabled and increased by the donations of various communities who immigrated to this country with the desire to find one in which they could thrive, participate and integrate with their impulse.
Auguste Rodin - great French sculptor
Rodin's innovation was that he was able to convey state and mood only with the help of pose. As a model, the sculptor invited the Frenchman Jean Bo, a muscular boxer who performed in the Red Light District. By the way, the man posed for the master several times for other works.
In the implementation of the monuments they express gratitude for the reception to which they were the object. There was also a significant private movement through and collectors who donated their artistic heritage. Other monuments and sculptures were entrusted to the prestigious Argentine sculpture workshops, which carried out the entire project, in which famous sculptors worked.
For this reason, having come to the country, the work of the "Thinker" was placed in the most important place of the Federal District, concentrated in an imaginary line that unites with the Congress of the Nation with a House of small scale in relation to the size of the area and another monument that is located in the same . The issue of scale is very important and this is where many times work goes unnoticed when it shouldn't.
"The Thinker" Michelangelo. Statue of Lorenzo de' Medici (1526-1531)
Rodin originally titled his sculpture "The Poet". This name supports the theory that the statue was intended to be a depiction of Dante Alighieri. But, perhaps due to the fact that the tall and thin Dante in the 19th century was in no way associated with muscular sculpture, many saw it as allegorical meaning. In any case, the name “The Thinker” is associated with the foundries, who named the statue that way because they considered it similar to Michelangelo’s sculpture of the same name.
In addition, in its surroundings it has a very heterogeneous landscape, with a lot of confusion, with a lot of buildings. This leads to the fact that the visual picture of this sculpture is lost when we see it in the Rodin Museum, in the garden, the work is truly appreciated. Here, once we move away from the site, it can no longer be distinguished, but if we look at it in a more homogeneous environment, we can see it more clearly. For this reason, we can see that this square is better appreciated with a more homogeneous landscape, since it is the Congress building, which observes it from other points of view.
"Three Shadows" by Auguste Rodin
“The Thinker” was not the only independent sculpture from the “Gates of Hell”. Rodin presented to the public “The Kiss” (1886), “Eve” (1883), “Ugolino” (1882), “Three Shadows” and other works from this series.
"The Thinker" - a statue installed in the Rodin Museum in Paris
We can consider the case of Brancusi's "Bird", being an "unfinished" figure, can be compared with Rodin's work as a whole, and this in turn with Michelangelo, saving the fact that Michelangelo's works were not at that time like those of the previous , ended with the decision of the same artist. Without a paw or a head, Rodin discovered that this part could be worth the whole. Being a torso bird alone, it can be said to be related to Bird with Rodin's work because it corresponds to the techniques and even beliefs imposed or verified by the artist.
After The Thinker gained enormous popularity, Auguste Rodin cast 10 copies of this statue in bronze. And after the death of the sculptor in 1917, the rights to casting were transferred to the people of France, and this figure increased to 20 copies. Today, “The Thinkers” in plaster or bronze are presented in galleries in Melbourne, Geneva, Washington, and Paris.
Each profile contains an indication of understanding others. He intended to make the object alive in its surroundings. The desire to be different from all of the above. He proposed to change the odious tradition with the dynamic continuity of forms, the expansion of sculpture to the entrance to the space, ending with the homogeneity of materials. While in Rodin's work, being mainly human figures, people know the movements, but several profiles can be appreciated, usually thinking from the front and back, and in the latter case their sides.
That there is no profile or sector that groups all the intensity of work. Matisse's sculpture can also be related to his likenesses. The slave has a rough, vibrant and vibrant surface treated by Rodin. He is also unarmed, intentionally, so that the roughness of the outline can be better appreciated. To quote Matisse: “The smaller the fragment of sculpture, the larger must be the essential elements of form.”
Rodin's talent is so great that many sculptors are still trying to imitate him, but in their own way. This is how an Italian master creates original figures made of metal mesh.
ABOUT O.RODIN'S SCULPTURE "THINKER"
This review article is of a scientific nature, and was written based on data taken from the Internet: Wikipedia, Biography of the sculptor Auguste Rodin, D. Alighieri, “The Divine Comedy”, M. ed. Exmo, 2011, excursions to the O. Rodin Museum in Paris.
If in Rodin's sculpture we do not see the great rhythms that connect as a whole vision of the world the exemplary forms of the Greeks and the Renaissance, it is because this dimension did not correspond to the nature of his time. Life, the central theme of his work, was presented in a series of events without a relationship of continuity, which he tried to accommodate to those who offered his art.
Gil Blas, July 7, Journal of the Central Society of Architects - No. 197 - Infrastructure. This fact is very noticeable in this work, in which the intertwined figures seem to be related to a question that symbolizes passion. Camille Claudel was one of her collaborators who posed for Danaida and for the plaster bust in which Rodin represented her with the Phrygian cap, a symbol of freedom for French Revolution. He was concerned with capturing the essence of his models by registering the emotions that came from his parts. This work was the result of one of the first public commissions made to Rodin. In it, the author told the story of six nobles of Calais who surrendered to the enemy in order to save the city when it was surrounded by the British. Fruitful thinking slowly develops in your brain. This work was designed for the center of the Hell's Gate tympanum. It represents Dante, reflecting on his poetic creation and symbolizes the creative person in general. This was based perhaps on the Renaissance doors of the Baptistery of Florence. It had thematic inspiration from Dante's Divine Comedy. "The Gates of Hell", a detail by Rodin, was considered a realist, symbolist, expressionist and even impressionist, if that term is applied to sculpture. The incomparable figure of his work superimposed it on the sculptural panorama and influenced other sculptors of the time. Sculpture - Illustrated Encyclopedia Atlantis - Ernesto Rodriguez. . The work depicts a naked male figure. larger than the actual size of a man sitting on a stone with his chin resting on one hand, as if lost in his thoughts, and is often used as an image to represent philosophy.
“The Thinker” (French Le Penseur) is one of the most famous works of the French sculptor Auguste Rodin. The original is on display in the A. Rodin Museum. which is located in the former mansion of Marshal Biron, 7th quarter of Paris, rue Varennes, near the Cathedral of the Invalides.
An interesting fact is that the sculptor depicted a man who seemed to be thinking about a decision difficult task, a person asking himself an internal question. According to the same O. Rodin - “Who am I?, Where did I come from?, Where am I going? and What is my goal? “. The author gave the sculpture a portrait resemblance to the author of the Divine Comedy, a medieval poet - Dante Alighieri (1265 - 1321), thereby identifying two concepts: poet and thinker.
Almost seven centuries have passed since the day when Dante’s ashes were enclosed in a marble sarcophagus installed in Ravenna, in the church of San Pierre Maggiore, but the image of the great poet and his work, his “Commedia”, already nicknamed “divine” by the closest generation, remain the highest spiritual landmarks of humanity.
Each new era of culture, bringing with it a different worldview, different knowledge, different values, invariably turned to Dante’s work as an absolute model and an infallible measure of its spiritual consistency.
Originally titled "The Poet", the piece was part of a commission from the Museum of Decorative Arts in Paris to create a monumental portal based on Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy. Each of the statues on the portal represented one of the main characters of the epic poem.
Thus, the Thinker was originally both a being with a tortured body, an almost condemned soul and a man of free thought who decided to overcome his suffering through poetry. Michelangelo - Lorenzo de' Medici - Medici Chapel, San Lorenzo, Florence. The pose of this figure owes much to Ugolino de' Carpo and Michelangelo's portrait of Lorenzo de' Medici. Rodin wanted a heroic figure in the tradition of Michelangelo, to represent intellect as well as poetry.
In 1880, Rodin received a government order to decorate the main doors of the Museum of Decorative Arts in Paris. Getting started with this great job, he naturally turned to similar examples in the art of the past and, above all, to the famous “heavenly doors” of the Florentine Baptistery, which amazed him in Italy. The Baptistery (baptismal sanctuary) of San Giovanni, in Florence is famous for the fact that on March 26, 1266, on Holy Day Saturday, it hosted a magnificent and solemn baptism ceremony, which was held in Italy, in Florence, according to those customs, only once a year. Including the future famous medieval poet Dante Alighieri who received baptism on this day, a year after his birth.
Subsequently, the entrance to the baptistery was decorated with three doors with bronze reliefs, magnificently executed by Andrea Pisano (1336), and by the more famous Renaissance sculptor Lorenzo Ghiberti (1424 and 1452).
And as if starting from the plan proposed by the founder of modern bas-relief art in European sculpture, Lorenzo Ghiberti (1378–1455), Rodin puts forward his own grandiose plan. He decides to create the “Gates of Hell”, decorating them with bronze bas-reliefs based on Dante’s “Divine Comedy”. Subsequently, the plan changed several times, and a number of images appeared that were not related to Dante’s work.
More than 20 copies of the sculpture are in museums around the world. He believed that art should be true to nature, a philosophy that shaped his relationship with models and materials. His genius lay in expressing the inner truths of the human psyche, and his gaze penetrated beneath appearance peace. By exploring this area below the surface, Rodin developed a flexible technique for representing extreme physical states that correspond to manifestations of inner turbulence or overwhelming joy.
He carved a universe of great passion and tragedy, a world of imagination that transcended the mundane reality of everyday existence. He used various materials, such as brass, marble, plaster and clay. Signs of Rodin's style such as the partial figure, his focus on formal qualities and relationships rather than narrative structure, and his desire to preserve traces of the sculptural process in his works were revolutionary in their time. The mesmerizing intensity of his work was followed by many artists, including those who worked in his studio such as Constantin Brancusi and Aristide Maillol.
Rodin's creation, full of intense internal struggle and tragedy, excited and passionate in content, resolved in a dynamic, expressive form, differs sharply from the clear, balanced and calm decorative work of Ghiberti. Rodin, who paid great attention to the use of the classical heritage, always demanded creative approach even to the highest standards. He warned young artists against mechanical imitation of the classics: “Respecting tradition, be able to distinguish what it contains that is eternally fruitful: love for nature and sincerity. These are two strong passions of brilliant masters... Tradition itself invites you to constantly question reality and forbids you to blindly obey any master.”
Didn't the title of creator crown Rodin's name, didn't he create a door that denied its own utilitarian function? It has not opened and has never closed in any century. Rodin's work is an important link between two centuries of sculpture. Young artists such as Bourdelle or Maillol were noted by Rodin and would in turn make a strong return to the style. Rodin will develop in accordance with an aesthetic order, which, if at first strongly imbued with classical inheritance, will ultimately obey only its own own rules.
The gigantic work on the “Gates of Hell” continued until the end of Rodin’s life, and the “Gates” were cast in bronze after his death. The gates were completed by the figure of the Thinker - which was smaller in size than the sculpture exhibited today - in the garden of the O. Rodin Museum. Many figures and sculptural groups, intended for inclusion in the composition of doors, received an independent existence (“The Thinker”. 1880; “Three Shadows”. 1880; “Adam”. 1882; “Eve”. 1882; “Ugolino”. 1882; “Old Woman”, “ Eternal spring", "Kiss". 1886, etc.). The range of thoughts and feelings expressed in Rodin’s images is truly colossal. Many of them seem to concentrate and generalize phenomena that have a universal meaning. It is difficult to imagine a more complete embodiment of inquisitive and painful human thought than that contained in Rodin’s image of “The Thinker.” And, perhaps, nowhere else has love been glorified in sculpture in such a passionate and at the same time chaste form as in the famous “Kiss.”