The Thinker (Le Penseur) 1904

This cast of Auguste Rodin's "The Thinker" sits at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Made of plaster, he represents thought in physical form. The surface texture is rough, not polished, showing the marks of its making. Look at the way the light catches on the ridges and valleys of the plaster. You can almost see Rodin’s hands at work, pressing and shaping the material. The figure seems to emerge from the stone, still connected to the earth. Notice how Rodin captures the tension between the figure's stillness and the implied motion of his thinking. His brow is furrowed, his muscles tense, but he is completely still. I am reminded of the way that the work of Medardo Rosso captured fleeting moments in time. Rodin, like Rosso, was less interested in capturing the perfect form and more interested in capturing the process of thinking itself. "The Thinker" is not just a sculpture; it’s an invitation to contemplate the messy, unresolved nature of thought.