The Thinker - Rodin

I begin in silence, sitting perfectly still in a green garden where birds sing. I feel cool when it rains and warm when the sun shines on my strong, bronze shoulders. Children sometimes run past me, but they always slow down and look up, wondering what I am thinking about so deeply. I am not a person, but I am full of thought. I am The Thinker.

A man with kind hands and a big imagination made me. His name was Auguste Rodin, and he was a sculptor who lived in France a long, long time ago. Around the year 1880, he started dreaming me up. First, he shaped me out of soft, squishy clay, carefully curling my toes and resting my chin on my hand. He wanted me to be part of a giant, magical door called 'The Gates of Hell,' where I would sit at the very top, watching over all the stories unfolding below. After he perfected my shape, other talented people helped him make a mold and pour hot, melted bronze inside. When the bronze cooled, I was born—strong, sturdy, and ready to think forever.

People loved me so much that my maker, Auguste, decided I shouldn't just belong on a doorway. He made me bigger and let me sit all by myself! The first giant bronze me was finished around the year 1904. Today, you can find me and my brothers in museums and gardens all over the world. Some people think I look sad, but I'm not! I am just very busy thinking. I think about poems, and stars, and what makes people happy. I remind everyone who sees me that it's a wonderful thing to be quiet and have a big thought. Your ideas are powerful, and just like me, they can last for a very, very long time, inspiring people to dream and create.