Famous Bronze Art Decor Philosophizing Thinking Monkey Sculpture

Description

Sitting in a Darwin book, this monkey stares at the skull and ponders its origins. This philosophizing thinking monkey sculpture is a very popular piece of art. This is one of our favorite statues. It certainly starts a conversation and is very thought-provoking work. The sculpture has been called many names: “Rheinhold’s Monkey,” “Darwin’s Ape,” “Wise Monkey,” “Monkey with The Bone,” and I’m sure there have been others over the years. The original work is an ape sitting on a pile of books. One of the books was marked “Darwin,” and the book at his feet was an open Bible with a page torn out. Another detail is a set of calipers suspended from the ape’s feet. So the sculpture is asking which is true — that I have evolved and one day I will actually become a human, or that I have created an ape and will always be an ape? Caliper and the pile of books he was sitting on showed that he was thinking about it. Darwin’s Ape is a beautifully sculptural and thought-provoking piece.

This philosophizing thinking monkey sculpture attracted great attention at the Berlin Art Exhibition in 1893. It was Reinhold’s first sculpture as a professional sculptor and was an immediate commercial success. The Berlin bronze foundry H. Gladenbeck & Sohn sells versions of cute Monkeys. From 1922, Nikolai Lenin kept a copy on his desk in the Kremlin. The monkey sits on a book with a Biblical quote: Iritis Sicut Deus. “You shall be God” were the words the serpent spoke to Eve to tempt her to taste the apple. The other is called Darwin, presumably in reference to Charles Darwin’s legendary study of the Origin of Species. If you like it very much, you can use it as a nice decoration in your garden.