Auguste Rodin (1840-1917) was a French sculptor. In 1880, he was awarded the commission to create a portal for the planned Museum of Decorative Arts. Although the museum was never built, Rodin worked for 37 years on this monumental sculptural group, The Gates of Hell, depicting scenes from Dante's Inferno in high relief.

Many of his best-known sculptures, like The Thinker (Le Penseur, representing the poet Dante), The Three Shades (Les Trois Ombres), and The Kiss (Le Baiser) were designed as figures for this monumental landscape of eternal passion and punishment, and only later presented as works in their own right.

References

Kermit as Rodin's The Thinker (stock photo)
(detail)

The Art of the Muppets poster
(1979)

Miss Piggy and Kermit in "The Smooch" for Miss Piggy's Art Masterpiece Calendar
(1984)

"famous Grouch statue of a skunk in deep concentration...The Stinker" from Sesame Street Episode 2870
(1991)

Muppet T-shirt
(1990s)

Herry Monster in Museum of Monster Art
(2001)

Disney Statue, Ltd Ed 1000 for Kermit's 50th Anniversary
(2005)

Disney notepad holder
(2005)

Disney tote bag
(2009)

Pepe in Clash of the Class Clowns
(2012)

Gong the Garrulous statue in The Muppet Show Comic Book: Pigs in Space
(2009)

Big Bird at the Nelson-Atkins Museum for Twitter [1]
(July 2019)

Sesame Street (First: Episode 3978)
(2001)

"The Muppet Museum of Art"
(1985)

"The Muppet Museum of Art"
(1985)

Elmo's Guessing Game
(1997)

Bruce McNally's "The Groucher" for Sesame Street Magazine
(April 2001)

Global Grover: Mexico: Pottery
(2004)

"The Chewer" in The Cookie Thief
(2015)

"You Ought to Be in Pictures"
(2018)

"Farewell, Statler and Waldorf"
(2021)