Christie's has announced the sale of a 1928 cast of Auguste Rodin’s “The Thinker” which is the centerpiece of a sale of works from a Parisian apartment designed by Alberto Pinto. The sale is scheduled for June 30 in Paris. The 28-inch tall bronze statue is estimated at €9 million ($9.79 million.)
The highest price auction price for one of these works in this size is the $15.285 million paid in May of 2013. The next highest price was made two years later when the work made $9.56 million in London. In between those two sales, a smaller version of the work was sold for $6.7 million.
These works are obviously not identical nor commensurate. There are different castings and different patinas on the individual works.
In 2016, a small one sold for $1.75 million. The next year another in that size made $1.9 million in March followed by one that sold for $3 million in November. A 28-inch Thinker sold for $8.18 million in 2018; a small one for $2.7 million. In 2019, the small size made $2.4 million.
The interesting wrinkle to this sale is the fact that it is taking place in Paris which has become increasingly important as a sales venue in the aftermath of Brexit. But also that it is part of sale that emphasizes the decorator more than the artist. There are other works by artists like Matisse and Chagall who are equally recognizable but the emphasis of the sale remains on the style over the primacy of the works or their collector.
