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Story
of "The Kiss"
While visiting
the second circle in Hell, Virgil and Dante saw, among those who
had committed sins of the flesh, Paolo and Francesca, two personages
who had really lived in the Middle Ages in Italy. Around 1275,
Francesca, the daughter of Guido da Polenta, married Gianciotto
Malatesta, Lord of Rimini, who entrusted her in the care of his
brother, the handsome young Paolo. Paolo and Francesca fell in
love with each other while reading romances of courtly love. As
soon as they exchanged their first kiss, Gianciotto caught them
by surprise and stabbed them. "Love has led us to a unique
death" Dante makes their shades say. This forbidden love
and its consequent eternal damnation, was a favourite theme among
19th century artists, from Ingres to Delacroix, and from Ary Scheffer
to Cabanel and Henri Martin.
Rodin portrayed
the famous lovers at the very instant they became aware of their
feelings. He placed them in the centre of the left leaf of The
Gates of Hell. This group was still in place at the beginning
of 1886 but was removed shortly afterwards, probably because it
portrayed a state of pure happiness which did not fit in with
the theme of the composition. It was exhibited in Paris, then
in Brussels in 1887, when it was given the title of The Kiss by
critics who were surprised at the lack of costume or decorative
details referring directly to Paolo and Francesca. Rodin had already
rejected the easy solution of picturesque, litterary or mythological
subjects which, by distracting the viewer, weakened the emotion
that should be felt when contemplating a sculpture.
Like many
groups originating from the Gate, The Kiss became an independent
work. On 31 January 1888, the Directorate of Fine Arts commissioned
a version in marble, double the size, for the group was supposed
to be shown at the Universal Exhibition which opened on 6 May
1889. Unfortunately, Jean Turcan, the practicien who was responsible
for carving the group in marble, stopped working on it at the
beginning of 1889. Rodin left it in abeyance ... and the marble
version was only shown at the Salon of the Sociéte
Nationale des Beaux-Arts in 1898, at the same time as the large
model of Balzac. Aware of the scandal the latter would arouse,
Rodin thought it would be prudent to exhibit a more traditional
work as well. As he anticipated, all the praise went to The Kiss
while his Balzac was showered with criticism. Yet he himself realized
the progress accomplished by both. "The embrace of The Kiss
is undoubtedly very attractive", he acknowledged. "But
I have found nothing in this group. It is a theme frequently treated
in the academic tradition, a subject complete in itself and artifically
isolated from the world surrounding it; it is a big ornament sculpted
according to the usual formula and which focuses attention on
the two personages instead of opening up wide horizons to daydreams"
(Paul Gsell, "Propos de Rodin sur l'art et les artistes",
La Revue, 1st November 1907).
After being
presented again at the Universal Exhibition of 1900, The Kiss
entered the Musée du Luxembourg before being deposited
at the Rodin Museum, when it was created in 1918. But in 1900,
two other marble replicas were ordered from Rodin, one by Carl
Jacobsen for the sculpture museum he was setting up in Copenhagen,
and the other by an art lover, Edward Perry Warren, for his own
collection (now in the Tate Gallery in London). The three marble
versions were exhibited together at the Musée d'Orsay
in 1995 where it was possible to observe that the main differences
lay in the way the blocks were carved and the degree of finish,
The Kiss belonging to the Rodin Museum having an unfinished aspect
which can be explained by the fact that work on it was suddenly
stopped in early 1889.
However
much Rodin protested about the traditional character of The Kiss,
it still remains one of his most famous works, and in the 20th
century it continued to inspire other artists, culminating in
Constantin Brancusi. While denying that he was influenced by Rodin
(in whose studio he had spent a few months on his arrival in Paris),
Brancusi treated this theme many times, from 1907 to 1945, and
a fine example of The Kiss can be seen at Pompidou Centre.
(by
Antoinette Le Normand-Romain )
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