HD photographs of The Kiss statue in Tuileries Gardens Paris - Page 958
We were in the Jardin des Tuileries in the 1st Arrondissement of Paris when we took these high definition photos showing a statue called Le Baiser, or The Kiss, which was sculpted by Auguste Rodin.
Paris Statues
- << Previous 951 952 953 954 955 956 957 958 959 960 Next >>
Francois Auguste Rene Rodin, known just as Auguste Rodin, was born in Paris in 1840, and studied to become a French sculptor, yet with his ideas he became recognised as the originator of modern sculpture and was a highly sought after artist, even though he had never been admitted to the Ecole des Beaux Arts, and this first HD photo shows one of his most famous works called Le Baiser, which in English translates to The Kiss.
The story of this particular statue first starts when, in 1880, the directorate of the Fine Arts commissioned August Rodin to produce a set of ornate gates for a new museum, which became known as the Gates of Hell, and these were based upon the Divine Comedy, and the first part of this epic poem called Inferno that was produced by Durante Degli Alighieri, known just as Dante.
You will find the Divine Comedy by Dante was written in the 1300s in three parts that were called Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso, which translates as Hell, Purgatory and Paradise, or Heaven, and Auguste Rodin first designed this as Paolo and Francesca for the Gates of Hell, as two characters with this epic poem who had been slain by the husband of Francesca after he had surprised them as they exchanged their first kiss and the two lovers were condemned to wander eternally through Hell.
But Auguste Rodin was not happy with this on the project for the gates, so he decided to remove it and produce this depiction of happiness and a romantic couple as a separate individual sculptural work, which he first exhibited in 1887, and becoming an instant success due to the fluidity of the modelling and the dynamic composition, yet having no specific name at the time, the public decided to just name it Le Baiser, or The Kiss.
In 1888, the French state then decided to commission Auguste Rodin to produce an enlarged version of The Kiss in marble, which the artist carved between 1888 and 1898, although originally it was meant to have been completed for the 1889 Exposition Universelle, or World Fair in Paris.
Eventually, the marble version of The Kiss was first exhibited at the 1898 Salon called the Salon de la Societe Nationale des Beaux-Arts, yet was first placed on public show at the Musee du Luxembourg in 1901, however, this was transferred to the Musee Rodin in 1919, which is a museum in Paris specifically dedicated to this artist.
However, do not get mixed up with the locations, as there is another museum located in Meudon where Auguste Rodin passed away in 1917, yet the photo you can see here showing the bronze statue of The Kiss is located in front of the Musee de l'Orangerie within the Tuileries Gardens.
Two further large copies of Le Baiser were produced in marble, one which is now owned by the Tate Gallery in the United Kingdom, and the other is held within the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek museum in Denmark, and incredibly all three were on show at the same time within the Musee d'Orsay back in 1995.
In addition to these there were also many bronze casts of The Kiss produced, and according to the Musee Rodin, the Barbedienne foundry produced over 300 themselves of varying sizes, however, according to a French law that was issued in 1978, it is only the first twelve casts of a sculpture or statue can be classified as original editions.
So with that in mind, in this close up photo you can see where Auguste Rodin has signed his name on the bottom of The Kiss within the rock part of the sculpture, and just underneath this as you are looking at the back of the female figure, if you look closely you can see that it states No 1, which means that the bronze cast of Le Baiser is one of the twelve original editions first produced by the foundry.
Although this next photograph shows a close up of the plaque located on the front of the pedestal base beneath the statue of The Kiss, which at the very bottom shows an inventory number, as since 2005 the Tuileries Gardens has been maintained by the famous tourist attraction of the Musee du Louvre, located at the opposite end of the garden to where you will find this sculpture.
Now the reason that there are varying sizes of The Kiss, is due to the fact that Auguste Rodin used to get assistant sculptors and students to work on different sculptures for him, and once they had completed the task to a certain level from the original model, or models, only then would Rodin completely finish the work.
And even before Auguste Rodin started on the large marble versions of Le Baiser, he produced several small versions in plaster, terracotta and bronze, which of course is well before the bronze cast of The Kiss that you can see here was produced, yet ironically, when the statue first went on display he called it his huge knick-knack, probably not expecting such worldwide recognition.
Yet this photo shows the location of the bronze statue The Kiss by Rodin, which as we mentioned before, is positioned in front of the entrance to the Musee de l'Orangerie, and located on the south western terrace of the Tuileries gardens called the Terrace de l'Orangerie, this overlooks the Place de la Concorde to the right of the image, and we are looking in the direction of the River Seine.
Paris Statues - << Previous 951 952 953 954 955 956 957 958 959 960 Next >>
If you would like to use any of these photos for non commercial use we only ask that you please do include recognition to ourselves "eutouring.com", but if you are not sure with regards to usage, please contact us.
