The Kiss - Auguste Rodin - 1882

Look closely at the space between their lips. In Auguste Rodin's The Kiss, conceived around 1882 and carved at life size in marble by 1898, the mouths of the two lovers do not actually meet. Rodin left a hairline gap — a kiss forever about to happen, all the longing held in that tiny pocket of air. ### Who the lovers really are The embrace is not a generic romance. The figures are Paolo and Francesca from Dante's Inferno, who fell in love while reading the story of Lancelot and Guinevere together. For that love they were murdered and damned to the second circle of hell. Look at Paolo's far hand, half-hidden behind Francesca — he still loosely holds the book that started it all. ### How Rodin carves the feeling Rodin breaks with the smooth, idealised nudes of academic tradition and gives real, weighted flesh — the muscle in Paolo's back, the softness of Francesca's waist, his hand resting (not gripping) on her thigh. Follow the bodies down and they only bind tighter: - her arm sweeping up around his neck - his leg pressed against hers - her foot tucked behind his ankle - the whole composition rising as a single spiral At the base, the polished skin of the lovers emerges from rough, barely-worked rock — a contrast Rodin learned from Michelangelo, as if love itself were being carved into being. First modelled for his monumental bronze Gates of Hell, the pair were later set free to stand alone, with marble versions now in Paris, London and Copenhagen. For another close reading of lovers in art, see The Lovers by Reza Abbasi, or browse more narrated walkthroughs on 2 Minutes Art.