Tate Modern

The Kiss by Auguste Rodin

At the Tate Modern, we saw Auguste Rodin’s marble sculpture of the doomed lovers, Paolo and Francesca, embracing moments away from a passionate kiss. Their lips would never meet since Francesca’s husband (also Paolo’s brother) discovers the lovers and kills them in his rage. In Paolo’s sculpted hand is the book -- the story of Lancelot and Guinevere-- that inspired their affair. Dante sees Paolo and Francesca on his journey through hell where they were sent for their infidelity. The Kiss was first created to be part of Rodin’s monumental Gates of Hell.