Rodin's The Thinker
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Real Identity: Not Applicable
Appearances (STAS): Mxyzpixilated
Powers/Skills: Aesthetics and Symbolism
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In 20th century, Auguste Rodin was commissioned by the Parisian museum, Musee des Arts Decoratifs to create a portal to their entrance. Rodin was inspired by the poem, Dante's The Divine Comedy and named the portal, The Gates of Hell. There were to be several statues present to depict the main heroes of the poem. The Poet was to represent Dante, who would be cast in a deep meditation to fight an inner struggle. It was renamed the Thinker. He sculpted the statue in the tradition of Michelangelo, nude. It then truly represented heroism, intellectualism, and poetry. The first large bronze cast was finished in 1902, but not presented to the public until 1904. It became the property of the city of Paris and was later moved to Hotel Biron, which later became the Rodin Museum.
Over 20 casts were made after the original and distributed across the planet. In popular culture, the Thinker is an enduring symbol of the intellectual movement but also a device of satire. In the 1990's, a museum in Metropolis acquired a Thinker but Mr. Mxyzptlk arrived and called him McGurk. The Thinker animated and was about to leave with Mxyzptlk when Superman tried to stop him, starting a fight. Superman then punched his head off. The scene suddenly shifted to an aghast crowd looking at Superman punching out the head of an inanimate Thinker. Only Superman was aware of Mr. Mxyzptlk's precense.