THE KISS BY RODIN: WHAT IT PORTRAYS AND WHERE YOU CAN ADMIRE IT

The Kiss by Rodin is one of the most famous depictions of love in art.
Displayed at the Exposition Universelle of 1889, the sculpture was created using Michelangelo’s “non finito” (not finished) technique.

In this post I’ll explain who the two lovers are and where you can admire the sculpture.

READ ALSO: Famous kisses: the 5 most beautiful kisses in history of art.

HOW THE IDEA OF THE KISS BY RODIN ORIGINATED

The origins of The Kiss by Rodin dates back to 1880, when the French government commissioned the artist a pair of decorative doors for the Musée des Arts Décoratifs (the Decorative Arts Museum) in Paris.
The doors had to be dedicated to Dante’s Divine Comedy and, according to the initial project, the couple of lovers had to be placed on left door; but later Rodin transformed it into an independent sculpture.

Rodin was able to make the love between the two lovers sensual and realistic, and observers need to look everywhere to find details, such as the arms tightened around the bodies, the mouths that seem to fuse, the hands holding the body of the lover.
The sculpture portrays love and passion but also tragedy of those who surrendered themselves to an overwhelming feeling and have to suffer the consequences forever.

Some people claim that the two lovers are actually the portrait of Auguste Rodin and his student and lover Camille Claudel.

READ ALSO: Rodin and Camille Claudel: a love and an art story

WHERE THE KISS BY RODIN IS ON DISPLAY

The Kiss by Rodin is on display at the Musée Rodin in Paris, but there are also two replicas: one is on display at the Tate Gallery in London and the other is on display at the NY Carlsberg Glyptotek in Copenhagen, whereas a posthumous copy is housed in Philadelphia.

Considering the remarkable success of The Kiss, in 1898 the company Barbedienne entered into a contract with Rodin to produce and sell bronze versions of his sculpture in four different sizes, but other companies would reproduce the work, too.
That made an international success of the sculpture.