'The Thinker' will mull in new setting

Rodin's "The Thinker" has sat at the entrance to the Detroit Institute of Arts for decades, welcoming generations of visitors to one of the nation's largest fine arts museums.

Now, for the first time since acquiring it in 1922, the Institute of Arts is loaning out the iconic sculpture while the 600,000-square-foot museum is closed this summer for the final phase of a $158-million renovation that began six years ago.

Museum officials have arranged to move the statue to the Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park, just east of Grand Rapids, Mich., until the work in Detroit is completed.

"The Thinker" will leave Detroit May 22 and go on display the next day at Meijer Gardens, where it will stand outdoors through Oct. 31 in a grassy area near a waterfall.