The Thinker was first developed as part of Rodin's The Gates of Hell, a sculptured doorway for a proposed museum of decorative arts in Paris. Intended to be part of a relief directly above the doors, the rugged figure was originally conceived as a generalized image of the Italian poet Dante (1265-1321) who, in his mind's eye, sees all that goes on around him. Once Rodin separated him from The Gates, however, he became The Poet-Thinker, and finally just The Thinker.
