For Cyrano de Bergerac the “kiss” was the pink apostrophe between the words “I love you”. For many painters the “kiss” was the theme with which art was able to represent the ecstasy between two lovers. Valentine’s Day, the 10 most beautiful kisses in the history of art
There are many kisses in the history of art: on the occasion of Valentine’s Day we offer here the most famous and representative ones. The kiss – Francesco Hayez
“ The kiss ” painted by Francesco Hayezmade in 1859 and kept in Milan in the Pinacoteca di Brera, it is by far the most famous kiss. This painting became the symbol of the nineteenth century and contains all the characteristics of Italian romanticism. The setting of the painting is neutral to focus the viewer’s attention on the scene of the kiss between the two lovers. The man has one foot on the steps, giving the idea of imminent departure, but the passion of the kiss suggests that he would like to stay with her. The beloved, compliant, transmits the passion and the poignant transport in greeting her beloved of her. The kiss – Gustav Klimt
“ The kiss ” as famous as the first one and certainly that of Gustav Klimtmade in 1907 and kept in the Osterreichische Galerie in Vienna. This work, in full accordance with the canons of the Liberty style, is painted on canvas with gold-colored decorations and mosaics in the background. It represents the ecstasy that love causes. Man and woman seem to belong to a single body which in turn becomes one with the universe. The flowers and buds on which the two lovers are resting represent the vital charge that is generated by love. Love and the ecstasy of abandonment in “The Kiss” by Gustav Klimt
The kiss by Gustav Klimt is one of the most significant masterpieces of the artistic career of the famous Austrian painter, a manifesto work of love The lovers – Magritte
There are two copies of ” Lovers ” byMagrittemade in 1928 with the oil on canvas technique. One is kept at the National Gallery of Australia and the other at MOMA in New York. The painting depicts two lovers kissing passionately with their heads and faces covered with a white cloth. This recalls both the passion of pure physical love that does not need many words, and the couple’s communication difficulties. This image, despite the reference to the death of the artist’s mother found dead suicide with a cloth on the scum, appears very disturbing. The interpretations are and will be many and the reflection to which the work must lead the observer has always been the will of the artist. By hiding the faces, making them invisible, the painter wants to show the multiple meanings of reality through new points of view.“Lovers” by Magritte, the painting that expresses the impossibility of love
Let’s find out what lies behind “Lovers” the work of Magritte, a true icon of the history of art and a symbol of the impossibility of loving Cupid and Psyche, children – William-Adolphe Bouguereau
” Cupid and Psyche, children “, is an oil painting of 1890, by the painter William-Adolphe Bouguereau which is in a private collection and is one of the most famous works of the author. The work is erroneously known as The First Kiss, it symbolizes pure love, childish sweetness and the purest aspect of love. Over the town – Marc Chagall
“ Over the town ” by Marc Chagallpainted in 1918 and kept in the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow in Russia. Symbolist painting depicts two lovers hovering over their old world, flying from their hometown to a new life together. Chagall uses the whole range of colors available to tell with a very complex symbolism painful images of a lost reality, found only in the dimension of memory and dream. The kiss with the window – Munch
“ The kiss with the window ” and a painting by Munchdated 1892 preserved in the National Museet for kunst in Oslo. The painting is part of a group of works on the theme of the cycle of life, death and love. The relationship between man and woman is a theme often addressed by Munch. The two embraced figures, impossible to distinguish separately, represent the loss of identity. The relationship between man and woman is configured as a tension between the desire to love and the fear of loving. The ambiguous relationship is expressed by the physical fusion of the two figures who embrace in an attempt to cancel or assimilate. In this Munch transfers that painful sense of loneliness linked to his personal experience. The Kiss – Amos Cassoli
“ The Kiss ” by Amos Cassolidated 1870 represents the furtive kiss between Paolo and Francesca, the two lovers condemned to hell by Dante. The stolen kisses – not legitimate, but furtive and guilty – of impossible loves become even more fascinating. Love, which sees in the kiss a passionate act and a ‘political’ gesture at the same time, is one of the most frequent and represented subjects in the Italian nineteenth century painting. The kiss – Picasso
” The kiss ” by Picassomade in 1925 and kept in the Musee National Picasso in Paris. The painting depicts a man and a woman in the act of kissing, even if the chaos makes the situation convulsive and incomprehensible, as in an explosion of passion. Picasso inserts sexual references to increase the erotic charge of the painting, phallic forms or female organs can be found in different parts. As in other paintings seen previously, the two bodies come together in an intertwining of bodies that make the distinction of the two shapes almost impossible, this time because of a sexual impetus and real violence that was inherent in the painter’s character. Picasso’s cubist kiss remains one of the most important works of the Andalusian author, a sexual impetus that explodes in a painting that tells us a lot about his relationship with women,Hector and Andromache – Giorgio de Chirico
“ Hector and Andromache ” by Giorgio de Chiricofrom 1917 and kept in the National Gallery of Modern Art in Rome. The characters in the foreground are Hector and Andromache, two well-known protagonists of the Iliad, the episode to which he refers and the last embrace at the Scaean doors, before the great Trojan hero confronts the Greek Achilles in a duel. The tragicity of the scene lies in the fact that Hector and Andromache, by the will of fate, lack upper limbs, so their attempt at a last embrace fails and they are forced to stop. Hector and Andromache are mannequins or abstract figures subjected to chance on the one hand, but on the other hand, despite their appearance, they are two living beings in flesh and blood who desire human contact. The abstraction of the two figures “freezes” the moment and makes it timeless, it projects it beyond reality, beyond nature,Romeo and Juliet – Frank Dicksee
“ Romeo and Juliet ” by Frank Dicksee from 1844 is located at the Southhampton Art Gallery. The painting represents the day after the first, and only, night spent as husband and wife between Romeo and Juliet. What Sir Dicksee tells us with this painting is to abandon ourselves to moments of escape, such as love. Gripped by the frenzy of modern times (and if Dicksee was complaining in 1900, what should we say in 2014
!), Dicksee invites people to seek harmony and a space on a human scale, to seek what makes us feel good, such as the love. READ ALSO: THE 10 MOST BEAUTIFUL KISSES IN THE HISTORY OF PAINTING
