Rodin's "Le Penseur" in Dr. Linde's Garden

There is no evidence of Rodin and Edvard Munch (1863-1944), the most important Norwegian artist and etcher of his generation, ever having met. Yet the sculptor’s work greatly influenced the painter’s production, and today the Musée Rodin is still the only French museum to own a canvas by Munch. In addition to this work, entitled Rodin’s “Thinker” in Dr Linde’s garden in Lübeck, painted in spring 1907 and acquired by the museum in 1981 (link to explanatory text, inv. P. 7612), is an etching printed in Berlin in 1902, acquired by the museum in 1985. The background history of this painting, which Rodin never had in his possession, and probably never saw, nonetheless reflects the extent to which the sculptor’s influence was felt in northern European countries, particularly in Munch’s work. Read more...

Image Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons