The Kiss

The Kiss is a realisation of a motif with which Munch had experimented since 1888/89: a couple kissing, their faces fusing as one in a symbolic representation of their unity. The motif was part of a series Munch called the Frieze of Life, on which he spent more than 30 years of his career. The cycle depicts stages of a relationship between men and women and is part of what Munch called "the battle between men and women that is called love." It includes portrayals of attraction, courtship, realisation, and disappointment.