The Kiss

Le Baiser (The Kiss) by Auguste Rodin, 1890
(1934 cast of the marble original)
Terrasse de l'Orangerie
Jardin des Tuileries (Tuileries Garden)
Quartier Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois, 1st arrondissement
Paris, July 2012

“The nudity and frank sensuality of The Kiss drew scorn from many critics when the sculpture was first unveiled in 1889. The poet Paul Claudel, a religious conservative, wrote:

the man is so to speak attablé [sitting down to dine] at the woman. He is sitting down in order to make the most of his opportunity. He uses both his hands, and she does her best, as the Americans say, to ‘deliver the goods.’

Claudel’s contempt probably had something to do with the fact that his sister, the sculptor Camille Claudel, was Rodin’s lover at the time the work was completed.” (The Story Behind Rodin’s ‘The Kiss’, Open Culture)