Rodin, what’s new

On the occasion of centenary of the disapperance of Rodin, the Museum of fine arts in Calais pays tribute to the great master of French sculpture by dedicating an exhibition to one of the most popular and most famous themes in his work: the Kiss!

A symbol of amorous passion, of maternal love but also of transgression or death, The Kiss occupies a unique place in art history. Indeed, since Antiquity it has been one of the most frequently depicted themes but also the most fantasised, aestheticised and banalised.

Conceived as a homage to the great master of sculpture, the exhibition The Kiss: from Rodin to the present day explores the evolution of this theme in art, from Rodin's creation of The Kiss in 1882 up to the twenty-first century, looking at the creations of some forty international artists.

The visitor path presents in six chapters artistic practices and prompts imagined or unveiled concordances between artistic works and fields. Cross-referencing historical, symbolic and poetic approaches, the plethora of works - paintings, sculptures, photographs, videos and installations, comic strips, extracts from film, music and dance - question both the image of the kiss and its communicative expression. Without dismissing formal experimentation (colour, shape, movement, light) the shared vision of the artists is one of viewing the kiss as a language. Between myth and reality, between codes and rituals of yesteryear, today and tomorrow, they (re)think the relationship with the other.

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