Yeah—that’s me atop the pedestal that usually holds The Thinker. We were walking across campus and I saw that it was temporarily vacant, so I just had to jump up and have my photo snapped!
Doing a little research, I learned that Auguste Rodin originally created The Thinker as part of his masterpiece The Gates of Hell. The figure sat atop the gates and reflected on the fate of the damned.
Yikes! I suppose that makes Stanford a good site for The Thinker—there’s certainly an ample supply of lost souls to ponder.
And so Paula and I are here to give him less to think about. Pray for us as we represent Christ on this strategic mission field!
Incidentally, you’ve probably seen The Thinker at other locations: that’s because there are 25 castings of the famous enlarged version.
Sculpture follows different rules for reproduction than other art forms: there are several ‘originals’. That was news to me: if you’re interested read more here.
I love Rodin’s sculptures…
You haven’t lived until you’ve been to the Musée Rodin in Paris, where you can see not only The Thinker and The Kiss, but the Gates of Hell,too!
Sad fact, in the 9/11 attacks on the WTC, not only did we lose all those people, but some nice Art,too, including the Rodin collection of the CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald.