This famous sculpture was a gift to the City of Kansas City, Missouri from Grant and Mathilde Rosenzweig. They contributed $60,000 to the City on 1948 to a committee who made the selection. He sits on the south lawn watching over the sculpture garden at The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.

This sculpture is actually owned by the City of Kansas City and not Nelson-Atkins, despite it being on the south lawn of Nelson-Atkins. What is now the south lawn and the sculpture garden of Nelson-Atkins was once owned by the City and this is where The Thinker was placed. Eventually, the City donated that land to the museum and so we now have a City-owned sculpture as part of the museum grounds.