"The Thinker," a man hunched over in contemplation, may be Auguste Rodin’s best-known work. Rodin first cast the figure as the central form in The Gates of Hell, an ornate doorway inspired by scenes from the work of Italian poet Dante Alighieri (1265–1321). The figure originally represented the author, but gradually evolved into a more generalized reference to all poets and creators. Rodin often created multiple versions of a sculpture; this monumental enlargement of "The Thinker" is one example of his play with scale. Gifted to the Museum in 1930 and displayed outside the front entrance, it was moved inside in 1971 following an extensive conservation treatment.