An early cast of "The Thinker" by Auguste Rodin sold for $15.285 million, setting a new record for the figure, at the beginning of the major spring auctions in New York City.

Sotheby's Tuesday evening sale also included another masterpiece from Rodin's “The Gates of Hell” that brought a cumulative total for the figures to $16.25 million.

The previous record for "The Thinker" was $12 million in 2010 for a later cast.

Publishing czar Ralph Pulitzer commissioned the work in 1906.

Rodin's famous “The Kiss,” from 1909, failed to sell while “Ugolino (oo-goh-LEE’-noh) and His Children” from 1883, brought $965,000.

Based on Dante's Inferno, Rodin's "The Gates" concept was never fully completed.

A billion dollars worth of art is coming to the auction block in New York City this month. Christie's and Sotheby's post-war and contemporary art sales, along with Impressionist and modern art sales, have several big-ticket lots although nothing like last year's record-setting $120 million Munch.

Works by Pollock, Basquiat and Richter are expected to soar.