Krispin Joseph PX

How Romantic are you? Being romantic is human nature; poetic, artistic, or natural is a subject of humans. Humans bring the idea of ‘Being’ Romantic into Art and literature; there is too much proof in literature and Art which we portray ourselves as ‘being loved’ in our imaginative articulations depicting us as a loved one to someone or we loved someone. 

Love and Romanticism have been artistic aspirations for humans for many centuries; from the beginning of the great civilisations, there is a lot of visual evidence for this romantic relationship between people regardless the gender. Being a romantic ‘couple’ has been a topic of Art and poetry for many thousands of years of human creativity. What do you feel when you look into Klimt’s poetical paintings of ‘Kiss’; ‘I Want to Do with you what springs do with Cherry Trees’, as Neruda writes from a distant land? 

The visible body of the Romantic relationship between ‘couple’ is always a matter of pictorial narration in Art’s history, which brings a versatile narration of human bodies into Art. In an artwork, couples interact with themselves and the audience same time. They have been portrayed as ‘objects’ of looking and materials for looking. The pair in paintings express the Love for visual reporting or performing; the artist is the first guy looking into ‘their’ romantic relationship, and that moment is visually captured forever for an audience from the beginning to now. Looking into the romantic relationship in Art, we get many visual elements from the periods.   

The story of Aline Charigot (1859-1915) is astonishing in Western art history because her presence in artists Auguste Renoir’s life became a fascinating episode in Art history. She becomes a model for artists and later wife, caring for Renoir when he becomes disabled. Dance in the Country (1883) is a painting of two people dancing; the romantic relationship between the artists and the model is apparent in this work. Auguste Renoir did more dancing paintings, but this one is most celebrated because the relationship between the artists and the model is become celebrated through the ages. 

Gustav Klimt’s (1862– 1918) The Kiss (1907-08) may be the most renowned ‘lovers’ artwork in the history of Art. In this oil on canvas work, artists use gold leaf to give the ‘golden’ effects of the kissing couple; that feature is highly intriguing and gives them an everlasting life of Love and eternity. Artists named this work ‘Liebespaar’ (the Lovers), and their embrace naturally gave the name ‘The Kiss’; now, this work is considered a masterpiece. Klimt is viewed as an artist of Love, Intimacy, and Sexuality, and many other artworks also narrate the relationship and intimacy of couples, like the painting ‘Stoclet Frieze (1905-1911), which portrays a swirling tree of life and standing female and embracing couple.  

Gustav Klimt is fond of relationships that were going on in his life and time, and that illustrates in his canvas so profoundly. But, for this narration, he influenced other painters, like Francesco Hayez (1791-1882) and his painting, The Kiss (1859). Hayez is an Italian painter and one of the leading figures in Romanticism, while he was renowned for his splendid historical paintings, political allegories and portraits. Hayez’s ‘The Kiss’ is considered his masterpiece, not only by Hayez but at that time. The Kissing couple is splendid in their attire, and what they do is intriguing. For the viewer, they are anonymous and unchanged gestures by themselves, and it seems like they met just before for a moment and suddenly start to Kiss, full of Love and desire. 

The Kiss and the Couples are always topics for artists, but not much portrayed in a sculptor format; Auguse Rodin is the first artist who brings the couple’s embrace in three dimensions. Rodin made these Couples as a part of an exhibition of ‘The Gates of Hell’, a sculptural group work depicting a scene from Dante’s Divine Comedy. The Kiss is a prime element of this group work and then removed from this group and replaced with another, which becomes independent. 

Paris is known for its Romantic ambience and is one of the leading French photographers; Robert Doisneau’s work depicts French life visually. From the beginning of the 1930s, he captured France’s street life, bringing many unforgettable moments in photographic history and ‘Love’ to the street. 

Love and couples affair is not only a topic for Western masters, but in the East, there is a tradition of depicting the life of ‘lovers’ and ‘couples’. The Edo period artist Suzuki Harunobu (1725-70) shows Japanese couples who make Love under an umbrella during snowfall. Those people are sharing an umbrella and walking through the snow, and they are not intimately tied or kissing; this painting is an example of Japanese Art’s simplicity. 

Belgian surrealist artist Rene Magritte’s ‘The Lovers’ (1928) satirically (or surrealistically) questions the romantic idea of Kiss. Magritte is famous for his familiar object in unfamiliar contexts and situations; in this ‘Lovers’, he brings the context of the cinematic cliche of ‘the kissing’ close-up camera angles. 

Norwegian Symbolist painter Edvard Munch’s (1863-44) painting The Kiss (1897) is another fantastic expression of Love and couples. This is a part of his series of paintings, A Poem about Life, Love and Death. In this series, Munch brings the nocturnal part of Love and life. Munch’s Kiss symbolises two people’s unity; their faces merge into one, and the couples are surrounded by darkness.