The famous sculpture "The Kiss" by Auguste Rodin (1840-1917) was truly extraordinary and truly provocative for its time. Now looking at it the modern viewer is puzzled - well, what is so provocative in it, just kissing naked man and woman - everything is modest and within the bounds of decency. And viewers have already got used to nudity in sculptures, the first artworks of this kind appeared in Ancient Greece and since then sculptors have been trying to repeat the masterpieces of the past with varying degrees of success.
Auguste Rodin. The Kiss. 1882.
Let's try to understand why this sculpture is still unique and truly innovative.
The main characters of the sculpture are Francesca and Paolo, who lived in medieval Italy. Their parents decided to conclude the usual at that time, a marriage of convenience and gave young Francesca to the lame and ugly Giovanni Malatesta. And so that Francesca did not resist too zealously she was misled - instead of Giovanni the girl was introduced to his younger brother Paolo - a young handsome man. Of course, Francesca happily agreed and signed the marriage contract.
Anselm von Feuerbach. Francesca and Paolo.
The wedding was played cheerfully, but all the guests, at the urgent request of the girl's father, kept their mouths shut that the real groom was a completely different person. After the wedding came the wedding night, and Francesca found in the bedroom instead of Paolo some complete stranger to her man, who began to assure her that he was her husband. In general, the girl's feelings are understandable.
Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Francesca and Paolo.
And she also managed to fall in love with the suave handsome Paolo, who was also partial to Francesca and often came "on business" to his brother, to visit the girl. One day they read a chivalric novel about Lancelot and were so impressed by the love scene described there that they decided to kiss, as it was impossible to restrain their feelings. To their misfortune, Giovanni entered the room at that time and, giving in to jealousy, stabbed them both with a sword.
Alexandre Cabanel. The death of Francesca and Paolo.
This is, of course, a literary version invented by Dante Alighieri, author of the famous Divine Comedy. In fact, Giovanni had long suspected that something was amiss and had been watching the door, waiting for the right moment. At first Giovanni did not want to kill Francesca, but she overshadowed her real lover, and the enraged husband simply could not control his emotions.
And the most amazing thing is that in Dante's "Divine Comedy" the souls of Paolo and Francesca ended up in hell, because they dared to cheat on Giovanni, even if it was just a single kiss. Indeed, the concept of morality at that time was very peculiar.
George Frederick Watts. Francesca and Paolo.
This plot has become very popular in art, there are many wonderful paintings, some of which are presented in the article, but still Rodin's sculpture differs from other creations on this theme. The thing is that on it the lovers are naked, while in all paintings they are dressed. And this sculpture is not about specific characters, but about their feelings, which Rodin tried to convey as expressively as possible.
Photo detail of the sculpture "The Kiss".
He went the way of the Impressionists, who liked to depict the moment here and now, to emphasize the main thing in paintings, to the detriment of any insignificant details. Impressionists painted their paintings very quickly, with broad sweeping strokes, they did not have time for "academic polishing", so that everything was flawless. But this carelessness, broad strokes, extreme attention to light have their own special charm.
Berta Moriso. Summer Day.
Rodin may well be called a sculptor-impressionist, "The Kiss" was created with the help of a punctuation machine, Rodin deliberately did not remove the round spots from the machine and polish the sculpture, according to his idea, no one will not consider them, as they will focus on the most passionate and so fatal kiss of lovers.
Photo detail of the sculpture "Kiss".
As time has shown, this approach proved to be correct and "Kiss" is deservedly recognized as a true masterpiece in sculpture.
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