Famous kisses in art: ten paintings of the first, the stolen and the last

A kiss through a window, across a supper table, at a train door and in a rose garden. Ten painted kisses, from Rossetti to Zorn.

A lover in a dark blue robe kissing a lady in a long cream gown patterned with small flowers, in a rose garden, with a red-winged angel playing an instrument above; watercolour by Dante Gabriel Rossetti.

A kiss is the hardest thing to paint. It lasts a second, the faces turn away from us, and too much detail spoils it. Yet painters kept trying, and the best of them found that what matters is everything around the kiss: the window someone climbed through, the table someone leaned across, the train about to leave. These ten kisses come from the Fable Love Stories collection, from a medieval romance to a Paris salon.

1. Roman de la Rose

Dante Gabriel Rossetti — Roman de la Rose, 1864. Tate, London. Complete composition.

Rossetti's watercolour takes its title from the Romance of the Rose, the great medieval poem of courtly love. A lover in dark blue kisses his lady, who wears a long patterned gown, in a garden of roses, while an angel with red wings plays music above them. It glows like a page of an illuminated manuscript.

Gold, blue and rose pink, with pattern everywhere: a jewel of a picture for a small wall.

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2. The Secret Meeting

A young man leaning in through an open window to kiss a young woman in a white dress who rises to meet him, in a sunny room with a small table; painted by Jean-Baptiste Lecoeur.

Jean Baptiste Lecoeur — The Secret Meeting, before 1838. Complete composition.

Jean-Baptiste Lecoeur's young man has climbed in at a window. He leans in from the sill to kiss a girl in a white dress, who has risen from her chair to meet him, one hand on his shoulder. The shutter is open behind them and a little breakfast table stands forgotten.

Light, fresh and a little daring: a cheerful picture for a hall or a kitchen.

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3. The Kiss (Pierrot)

A man in a white Pierrot costume leaning across a table laid with a white cloth and a bowl of fruit to kiss a woman in a pink frilled gown, in a dark blue salon; painted by Auguste Toulmouche.

Auguste Toulmouche — The Kiss (Pierrot), c. 1870. Complete composition.

After the masked ball, a man still dressed as Pierrot, all in white with a black skullcap, leans across a supper table to kiss a woman in a pink frilled gown, who leans across from the other side. Between them stand a bowl of fruit and a white tablecloth. Toulmouche makes it witty and very Parisian.

Pink, white and midnight blue: a playful, glamorous picture for a dining room.

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4. Courtship

A young man in a white shirt and red waistcoat kissing the cheek of a laughing girl in a pink skirt and red headscarf as she stands in a stream with a water jug; painted by Jacek Malczewski.

Jacek Malczewski — Courtship, 1878. Museum of Upper Silesia, Bytom. Complete composition.

Jacek Malczewski's young man catches a girl as she fetches water from a stream and kisses her cheek. She laughs and turns away, her jug tipped, her skirts wet, his white sleeve around her. It is a sunny, unguarded picture by a painter better known for strange Symbolist visions.

Full of sun and movement: a joyful picture with a summer feeling.

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5. The Embrace

A close view of a fair-haired man kissing a dark-haired woman, his hand on her waist, against green palm fronds, signed Zorn 83; painted by Anders Zorn.

Anders Zorn — The Embrace, 1882–83. Complete composition.

Anders Zorn paints a kiss from very close: a fair-haired man and a dark-haired woman pressed cheek to lips, his hand on her waist, against a background of green palm fronds. The brushwork is quick and free, and the signature, Zorn 83, is part of the picture.

Modern, intimate and painterly, by Sweden's great portraitist: it looks contemporary on any wall.

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6. Young Couple of Lovers

A girl in a red headscarf and blue skirt sitting on a kitchen table as a young man in a hat leans round to kiss her cheek, with a rush chair and plates on a shelf; painted by Egisto Lancerotto.

Egisto Lancerotto — Young Couple of Lovers, 1884. Complete composition.

In a Venetian kitchen, a girl in a red headscarf sits on the table and a young man in a hat leans round to kiss her cheek. Egisto Lancerotto, a painter of Venetian street life, fills the scene with real things: a rush chair, plates on the shelf, a stone floor.

Warm and everyday, full of texture: a picture of ordinary happiness.

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7. One More Kiss

A young woman in a rose-coloured bustle dress standing on the step of a dark green railway carriage to kiss a man leaning out of the window; painted by Italo Nunes Vais.

Italo Nunes Vais — One More Kiss, c. 1885. Complete composition.

A young woman in a rose-coloured dress and a little hat steps up on to the footboard of a train carriage to kiss a man leaning out of the window. Her parasol hangs from her wrist and the wheels are already in the picture. Italo Nunes Vais calls it One More Kiss: the train is about to go.

A very modern farewell in a very elegant dress: perfect for anyone with a love story that began on a journey.

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8. The Kiss

A man in a brown coat embracing and kissing a young woman in a long pale pink gown in the doorway of a red door in a pale panelled salon; painted by Auguste Toulmouche.

Auguste Toulmouche — The Kiss, 1885. Complete composition.

Toulmouche's second kiss is in a doorway. A man in a long coat has stepped through a red door and taken a young woman in a pale pink gown into his arms. The salon behind her is all pale panelling and light, the door all colour.

A blush pink gown against a scarlet door: the most elegant kiss in the collection.

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9. Romeo and Juliet

Romeo in dark velvet kissing Juliet in a green and white gown on a window seat, a leaded window open to a pale sea behind; painted by Konstantin Makovsky.

Konstantin Makovsky — Romeo and Juliet, 1890. Complete composition.

Konstantin Makovsky's Romeo and Juliet kiss on a window seat, wrapped in dark velvet and green brocade, the leaded window behind them open on to a pale sea and sky. Makovsky was the most fashionable painter in Russia, and this is love as costume drama.

Rich velvets and a sea view: a dramatic, theatrical picture for a dark wall.

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10. The Kiss

A woman in a long white dress kissing a dark-haired man at a wrought-iron garden gate in an ivy-covered wall, a straw hat fallen at their feet; painted by Silvio Allason.

Silvio Allason — The Kiss, 1892. Complete composition.

Silvio Allason paints a couple kissing at the iron gate of a garden. She has come out in a white dress; he leans to her from the shadow, his hand at her waist, and a straw hat has fallen on the step. Ivy climbs the old wall around them.

Silvery white against dark iron and ivy: a quietly beautiful picture for a hall.

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These ten, every one of them restored and printed whole, show how many ways there are to paint a single moment. Each also has a Fable portrait style, so a couple can be painted into the scene.

Walk through the Love Stories room · The Love Stories collection