Rodin — The Thinker

It depicts renowned French sculptor Auguste Rodin, in his studio, facing his famous The Thinker sculpture, with his other creation, the Monument to Victor Hugo, as a background.

Steichen had difficulty in capturing the current image in a single negative, so he took two, one presenting Rodin in front of The Thinker, and other depicting his monument to Victor Hugo, and later combined them for the final product.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art website states: "The photograph portrays the sculptor in symbiotic relation to his work.

Suppressing the texture of the marble and bronze and thus emphasizing the presence of the sculptures as living entities, Steichen was able to assimilate the artist into the heroic world of his creations.

Posed in relief against his work, Rodin seems to contemplate in "The Thinker" his own alter ego, while the luminous figure of Victor Hugo suggests poetic inspiration as the source of his creativity.