The Kiss

Auguste Rodin (1840-1917)

This famous group was to have been part of the monumental Gates of Hell, commissioned from Rodin by the future Museum of Decorative Arts in Paris, a work which was not cast in bronze until after the artist's death. The two leaves of this door, covered with a crowd of intertwined characters, illustrate Dante's Inferno. Among these figures, The Kiss was supposed to evoke an episode of the tragic passion of Paolo Malatesta for his sister-in-law Francesca de Rimini. In the end, Auguste Rodin decided not to include it in the composition and presented it to the public as a sculpture on its own. The work was an immediate success and was made in marble and bronze in different sizes.

Among the couples of lovers, so frequent in the work of Rodin, The Kiss is far from being the boldest. Yet it has always been considered as the symbol of sensuality and its extraordinary fame can be explained by its powerful sensitivity and the skilful arrangement of its forms.

Each reproduction requires great expertise   and draws on the skills of the Rodin Museum's teams and craftsmen. It is from the official moulds from the museum's collections that the most accurate resin reproductions are made. They are then hand-patinated to give it the appearance of bronze, plaster or marble.

Finally, they are validated and checked by the Musée Rodin’s curators to ensure that they comply with moral rights.

Reproductions come with an explanatory note about the history of the work.

The seal and the mention “Reproduction - Musée Rodin” guarantee the quality and origin of the sculpture reproduction.