Auguste Rodin (1840-1917), Le baiser, 3ème réduction, conceived in 1886. Bronze with brown patina. Height: 15⅝ in (39.8 cm). Conceived in 1886, this version referred to as ‘3ème réduction’ executed in this size in 1901. Sold for €756,000 on 4 April 2023 at Christie’s in Paris.
An icon of romantic love, The Kiss in fact shows a couple condemned.
Arguably Rodin’s most famous work, The Kiss presents two lovers locked in a blissful embrace. Yet these figures are in fact two of Dante’s doomed medieval characters, namely Francesca da Rimini and her lover Paolo Malatesta.
Francesca’s husband (who was Paolo’s brother) found the pair and enraged by their adulterous liaison, stabbed them both to death, condemning them to an eternity in hell.
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