Signed with a Kiss: A Travel Itinerary Following Famous Kisses in Paris

Paris, the City of Kisses – A Brief Introduction by the Francophile

Paris It is undoubtedly the most romantic city in the world and for good reason. The combination of sensual history, beautiful buildings and parks where loving couples can hide makes us all feel that love is running through the streets, as Michel Sardo sang.

Therefore, it is not surprising that before the Corona (and probably after it) Paris is the city of kisses and those who are kissed. After all, we have all seen two Parisians who meet on the street and kiss each other on both cheeks (the famous bise). And what about the couples who love on the public bench of Bressanone or those who kiss on the bridges in order to “preserve the purity of language and the purity of the tongue” (according to Diair Garbuz)?

But just before the whole kissing and kissing thing gets tacky and saccharine, Ronit Gruman comes to us and shows us on this itinerary that kisses can also be something completely different. On this itinerary, we will go for a walk between two gardens, a church, and even a cemetery, and discover different kinds of kisses that tell completely different stories…

Parc Montsouris

Parc Monsoury is located in the south of Paris in the 14th arrondissement. It is designed in the English style and is very popular with residents.

In the Monsoury Garden, we sat on a bench in the shade of elegant trees and overlooking a beautiful lake. There we read the poem “The Garden” by Jacques Prevoir (1900 – 1977). Prevoir was a poet and screenwriter who gained worldwide fame and recognition. His poetry, characterized by a slightly folk style, deals with love, friendship, and everyday experiences.

“The Garden” (Translated by Aharon Amir)

Thousands and thousands of years

You won't find it.

say

You are the little second of eternity.

When you kissed me

Where I kissed you

One beef in winter light

In a Montessori garden in Paris

in Paris

On the land

The Earth that is a star.

“The Garden” is a very short poem that describes the moment of the kiss in a special and original light. The poem is read quickly. The lack of punctuation and repetitions give the feeling of a flowing melody and perfect harmony.

The happiness of the moment of the kiss is also represented during the day: “One morning in the winter light” and in the place of the event: the garden. There is a hint here of the Garden of Eden where Adam met Eve.

Montparnasse Cemetery (Cimetiere du Montparnasse)

Montparnasse Cemetery Located in the 14th district. It is also considered a tourist site due to the large number of artists and celebrities buried there, such as: Charles Baudelaire, Guy de Maupassant, Jean-Paul Sartre ....

Looking for a kiss in a cemetery?! A little strange… We'll immediately solve the mystery and tell you:

On a stormy day in November 1910, the body of Tatiana Rachewskaia was found hanging in her room. She was 23 years old when she died. Who was the unknown, mysterious young woman who became famous thanks to the statue that stands on her tombstone?

Tatiana fled Russia and came to Paris to study medicine. In Paris, she met a doctor of Romanian origin and fell in love with him. But it was a love that ended in disappointment and death. The girl's family came from Russia and decided to commemorate her with a unique statue that would be placed on her grave.

They purchased a sculpture depicting kissing lovers by a still unknown young sculptor of Romanian origin named Constantin Brancusi and the rest is…history…

Brancusi was born in 1876 in a peasant family in a village in Romania. At the age of 11, he ran away from home and found a living by doing various manual labor jobs. At the age of 18, he began working as an apprentice in a carpentry shop while simultaneously studying at a school of arts and crafts. When he graduated with honors, he received a scholarship and traveled to the capital, Bucharest, and studied at a school of arts. In Bucharest, he achieved great success.

In 1902, he left Bucharest and traveled via Munich and Switzerland to Paris, covering most of the distance on foot. His works attracted Rodin's attention with their dignity and strength, and he invited him to work in his studio. After learning a lot from him, Brancusi left Rodin's studio, claiming that "nothing grows in the shade of tall trees."

After leaving Rodin, his style changed drastically.

The “Kiss” statue is an example of his style. The cemetery houses the third of six versions. Here is another version:

Brancusi abandoned the use of bronze, which is accompanied by polishing and softness of design, and moved to stone, in which he works without preparatory sketches, and in which he emphasizes its materiality. He is no longer a naturalistic sculptor but an artist who steps towards abstraction. The two figures are sculpted in minimal detail. The kiss merges the two figures not only in their movement, but also in the combination of eye to eye, mouth to mouth and hair to hair. Although the subject is “the kiss,” there is no erotic element in this sculpture – the emphasis is placed on the idea of ​​the kiss uniting two people rather than a momentary physical act.

Dear readers, unfortunately today a statue in the cemetery is covered by a coffin. The reason for this is the difficult dispute between the girl's family and the government. FranceThe family wants to remove the statue and replace it with a replica. The original statue is valued at a legendary amount of money…

And before we continue, if you would like to read more about Brancusi and his friends from Montparnasse, you are invited to read Dr. Orna Lieberman’s article. Amedeo Modigliani and Chaim Soutine: The Last Bohemians of Montparnasse.

Saint Sulpice Church (Eglise Saint Sulpice de Paris)

An erotic scene in which a femme fatale seduces a priest that ends with a kiss and maybe more than that… in a church?!

Enter the church located in the sixth arrondissement, the second largest church in the city, where we admire the murals by Eugene Delacroix: “Heliodorus Exits the Temple” and “Jacob Wrestling with the Angel.”

We will leave the church to the square in front of it and connect our headphones…

Jules Massenet's opera "Menon" tells the story of a beautiful young woman who tries to navigate her life between true love and a life of wealth and status. The opera is based on a novel by the French writer Abbé Prévost, published in 1731. The novel is largely autobiographical. At the time of its publication, the novel was considered very provocative and was banned from publication in France. The scandal only increased the curiosity of the readership and led to its underground distribution and its rapid transformation into a famous and beloved book.

Pravo was raised Catholic, joined the army, but…left and joined the Benedictine Order, but…“cheated” in the church with a host of women. He got involved in a love affair with a prostitute who wasted most of his money and for which he also served time in prison…

The novel has been adapted into four operas, a theater play, and a film.

We will watch the temptation scene from Massenet's opera "Menon" (which takes place in a church) Saint-Sulpice) in which Menon convinces her former lover, who has since become a priest and sought-after preacher at the Saint-Sulpice church, to run away with her.

Tuileries Gardens

Tuileries Gardens The wonderful ones are dotted with fountains and statues. We will stop by the statue of “The Kiss” by Auguste Rodin, which is located near the Orangerie Museum.

The famous “The Kiss” sculpture depicts a fatal moment of forbidden love between a couple, an act embodied in a kiss. The act is described in the fifth canto of Dante Alighieri’s epic poem “The Divine Comedy.”

The canto tells that Francesca da Rimini, as was the custom of the ladies of that period, was destined, against her will, to marry Giovanni da Rimini, who was not distinguished by his handsome appearance or stature. After the wedding, Francesca and Paolo (Giovanni's younger brother) find themselves madly in love with each other. They are caught in the act by the betrayed brother-husband and murdered by him. The cursed pair of lovers will be sent to eternal torment in the purgatory of hell.

The bronze version in the Tuileries Gardens (74 centimeters high) was sent for display at the World's Fair in Chicago in 1893. The eroticism of the statue made it controversial. The statue was deemed unsuitable for public display and was moved to an inner room that was only accessible by private invitation.

In the Tuileries Gardens, we cannot miss the statue of Charles Perrault, the author of “The Sleeping Beauty.” If we are in the company of children or have the soul of a child… we will certainly be happy to remember the wonderful story that ends with a kiss…

Charles Perrault (1628-1703) laid the foundations of children's literature. In 1697, he published his famous book "Mother Goose Tales." Most of the tales were drawn from folk sources and passed down from generation to generation. Perrault determined their final form. The tales were translated into many languages ​​and became very popular: "Sleeping Beauty," "Little Red Riding Hood," "Puss in Boots," "The Little Mermaid"...

In classic children's fairy tales, a kiss was attributed with miraculous powers, to the point that it could give existential validity to the woman being kissed, and be desired by a handsome prince who would later marry her. From such a kiss, the "Sleeping Princess" comes to life, after being cursed with an enchanted sleep...

Want to travel through France in the footsteps of Charles Perrault?

In France, there are two castles associated with two of his most famous stories.

• The first is the Château de Ussé in the Loire Valley. This castle was the setting for the story “Sleeping Beauty” and you can find wax statues depicting the story there. If you want to read more about the place, you are welcome to visit the article Ussé – Sleeping Beauty's castle.
• The second castle is Chateau de Breteuil, which is about a half-hour drive southwest of Paris. Charles Perrault wrote Puss in Boots in this castle, so the entire castle is dedicated to this legend. You can read more about it in the article Château de Bertaille – Puss in Boots’ Castle.

The Louvre Museum

In search of a kiss we will arrive atThe Louvre Museum To the statue of Antonio Canova (1757 – 1822), an Italian sculptor and representative of the neoclassical movement. He took his greatest inspiration from Greek mythology. His sculptures, engraved in the artistic canon, are exhibited in the most important museums in the world.

Let's look at the sculpture: "Psyche Awakened by Cupid's Kiss" (1787). In a hard material, marble, the sculpture manages to embody the most delicate ideas of emotion and love. As in children's fairy tales, in mythology, miraculous powers were attributed to the kiss, to the point that it could give existential validity to the woman being kissed.

The statue depicts the moment when Cupid (the young god of love) descended into Hades, the land of the dead, and brought his beloved Psyche back to life…with a kiss!

The statue is considered a masterpiece of neoclassical sculpture but depicts the mythological lovers in a moment of great emotion, typical of the developing Romantic movement.

The 18th century is the arena of the struggle for the place of reason. On one side, the rationalists (supporters of the neoclassical movement) and on the other, the romantics who reject the rational tendency, one that castrates the secret of the magic of life.

It's hard not to attribute the sculpture, created two years ago, to French Revolution, political significance. Is not all love a love of freedom? A demand not to accept the world as it was? And for a viewer like the revolutionary Robespierre, is not the subject of the statue a metaphor for awakening to a revolutionary consciousness?

Paris City Hall Square

The Place de la Ville de Paris is the backdrop for one of the most famous photographs in the history of photography: “The Kiss near Paris City Hall” (1950).

Robert Doisneau (1912-1994) was one of the pioneers of photojournalism. Doisneau is most associated with his city of Paris, which he photographed in a poetic, simple, and humane manner. He took to the streets of Paris and photographed street life and human culture in countless photographs.

In 1950, Doisneau took his photo “The Kiss near the Paris City Hall” for “Life” magazine. In 1986, a poster of the photo was printed and distributed in more than 500.000 copies and 400.000 postcards. The photo became an international symbol of young love in Paris.

But, the widespread publicity opened a “Pandora’s box” for Doanu.

A young couple, Jean and Denise, thought they were the ones in the photo, which was not true. They sued Doisneau for “taking their picture without their knowledge.” French law states that a person has rights to their personal image.

Following the lawsuit, Duane was forced to reveal the identities of the people photographed and discovered that the photo was staged. After he saw a young couple kissing, he asked them if they could kiss again and they agreed.

Doisneau, of course, won the trial…

Cinematheque Paris 12th Arrondissement – ​​A celebration of cinematic treasures

The Cinémathèque Paris is one of the city's most important cultural institutions. The building is located near one of the city's most charming and unique gardens, the garden named after Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. The postmodern building was designed by American architect Frank Gehry. The building houses the cinema museum, screening rooms and one of the world's richest libraries of films and documents related to cinema.

The history of this distinguished institution began in 1936. The prominent figure in the management of the institution was Henri Langlois. During the occupation of France by the Germans, an order was given to destroy all films produced before 1937. Langlois and his associates smuggled films from the collection and thereby saved them.

Langlois was an influential figure among New Wave film directors. His unconventional working methods led to his dismissal from his job in 1968. His dismissal caused a stir in the film world: the Festival Cannes The prestigious production was canceled, famous directors from all over the world protested, riots broke out. The Minister of Education was forced to reinstate Langlois to his job.

The Cinematheque has been located in various locations over the years. The current building was built in 1993 to serve as an American cultural center. After a few years, it closed due to budget problems. In 1998, it became the Cinematheque's permanent home.

Kissing in the movies?

Cinema loves kisses. In many cases, these scenes are the main attraction for the audience and are always part of the set of expectations for the film. Cinema transforms the kiss from an everyday thing into an epic larger-than-life event, which filmmakers hope will leave an indelible mark on the audience.

And so is the kiss scene that I particularly love, which takes place in the film “The Harbor of Shadows” (Le Quai des brumes), which was produced in 1938 (therefore, it is recommended to look for it in the collection of the Cinematheque Paris).

The film tells the story of a military deserter (Jean Gavin) who waits for a ship in the harbor to escape France. While waiting, he finds love (Michelle Morgan), trouble, and death.

The kissing scene, in the tragic story of the film, expresses everything that was missed, everything that was denied to the heroes due to the difficult circumstances. The director was Marcel Carne and the screenplay was written by Jaques Prevert. The film became a classic in the history of French cinema.

And finally…

The subject of the “kiss” in art was considered the embodiment of eroticism until about two hundred years ago. Therefore, artists who wanted to depict a kiss often relied on mythological or historical stories to gain legitimacy. At the end of the 18th century, the Romantic movement began, which dealt extensively with human emotions such as marital love, and the kiss became legitimate in the depiction of everyday life.

Over the years, human society has become more permissive and art more defiant, so sometimes it seems that the kiss has been left behind...and is a bit missing in contemporary art.

Countless artists were not mentioned in the article: Picasso , Chagall, Fragonard, Toulouse-Lautrec, Sazen and more and more… Dear Kora, you are welcome to add a “kiss” to the article… even if the painter or sculptor is not French (Klimt…)

Did you like the article? Want to read more?

We hope you enjoyed the article. If you are looking for more similar articles, here are two ideas:

– If the act of kissing has made your heart flutter and you are looking for romantic places in Paris, then we highly recommend reading Yoel Tamanlis’ article. 17 Romantic Places in Paris.

– If you are looking for more ideas for walking tours in Paris, you are welcome to visit the article Itineraries in Paris.