Auguste Rodin (French, 1840-1917)
The Thinker, 1880-1881
Bronze, green patina
Gift of Ralph King 1917.42
©The Cleveland Museum of Art
Location: Not on DisplayThere are all told, twenty-five enlarged versions of Rodin's T
he Thinker. Of these, less than five were cast and patinated during his lifetime. One of the last Rodin supervised casts can be found in Cleveland, Ohio, where it sits directly in front of the Cleveland Museum of Art. This cast was donated in 1916, the same year that the Museum opened to the public.
At approximately 1am on March 24, 1970, the Cleveland Museum's version of Rodin's
The Thinker was irreparably damaged by a pipe bomb. The bomb itself had been placed on the pedestal that supported the enlargement and had the power of about three sticks of dynamite.
No one was injured in the subsequent blast, but the statue's base and lower legs were destroyed. The remaining sections of the work were blown backward to form a 'plume' at the base, and the entire work was knocked to the ground. It was reported that this attack was undertaken by a radical political group, perhaps as a commentary on the continuing military action in Vietnam, or the elitism of the American government.
Regardless, no one was ever arrested or charged with the destruction. It did bring up several conservation issues related directly to artistic intent however. Since the piece was so dramatically damaged, the Museum was unsure as to how to proceed. There was a movement started to completely recast the original piece and replace the damaged work with the new piece. There were also several people who believed that the original piece itself should be restored using recast elements of Rodin's original. Finally there were a number of people who believed that the statue should not be repaired, but placed outside in its current condition as a statement of the importance of public art and its vulnerability. Eventually, it was the later position that was endorsed, and the Museum's damaged piece currently sits outside of the original 1916 facade.