cast made by Fonderie Alexis Rudier circa 1928 (€9,000,000-14,000,000)
© Christie’s images limited, Nina Slavcheva. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR 10,739,500
Rodin’s most iconic sculpture The Thinker will highlight a sale at Christie’s in Paris on June 30. With an estimate of €9-14 million will highlight an auction entitled Le Grand Style : An apartment on the Quai d’Orsay designed by Alberto Pinto. The powerful presence of Rodin’s emblematic masterpiece was a central feature in a breath-taking apartment overlooking the river Seine on the Quai d’Orsay.
The Thinker, was first conceived around 1880 as part of the famous and monumental Gates of Hell inspired by Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy. It was only in 1904, when it is exhibited for the first time at the Salon de Paris, that it became a work on its own. It was immediately met with extraordinary enthusiasm and when a public appeal for funds was launched, donations poured in with the sculpture becoming the property of the City of Paris and the colossal bronze taking pride of place in front of the Pantheon in 1906.
The work will go on a world tour of exhibitions from New York to Hong Kong and London before arriving back in Paris for one week of viewing from June 23 prior to the auction on June 30.