The Thinker is Rodin’s most famous work. It was modeled in 1880-1882 for The Gates of Hell, and exhibited in its original size in Copenhagen in 1888. It was enlarged in 1902 and exhibited in this form at the Salon of 1904 where it aroused strong reactions from the press. It was on this occasion that Gabriel Mourey, editor of the magazine Les Arts de la vie, launched a subscription for a bronze "offered to the people of Paris." The Thinker was the first work by Rodin to be erected in a public place. It was inaugurated in front of the Pantheon on April 21, 1906. In 1922, using as a pretext that the statue created an obstacle during ceremonies, it was transported, with its pedestal, to the garden of the Hôtel Biron, which had by then become the Rodin Museum. Another example was placed over the tomb of Rodin in Meudon.
