An exhibition featuring a number of original works by French sculptor Auguste Rodin, among them "The Thinker," began on Monday at the Palace of Arts in the northeastern Brazilian city of Salvador.

As part of the Year of France in Brazil, a celebration of French culture, the exhibition "Auguste Rodin, Man and Genius" displayed 62 of Rodin's works, with a total value of roughly 15 billion U.S. dollars.

Apart from "The Thinker," some of Rodin's other most famous works, including "The Kiss," "The Woman Bowed" and "The Dream," were also on display.

These sculptures would be exhibited in the museum for the next three years.

This was the first time that original pieces by Rodin, regarded as the father of modern sculpture, had left the Rodin Museum in Paris to be part of a prolonged exhibition outside France.

Marcio Meirelles, culture secretary of the state of Bahia, said the exhibition would encourage more tourists to visit the city and also facilitate cultural exchanges between the two nations.

"With this exhibition, we have a piece of France in Brazil," Meirelles said.

Joao Luiz Silva Ferreira, Brazil's culture minister, added that the exhibition aimed to foster cultural interest among Brazilians, as only 7 percent of them visit museums and exhibitions on a regular basis.