The picture above is the base image used to create the The Kiss art design. The Kiss is located at The Rodin Museum in Paris, France: 77 rue de Varenne, 75007. Click on the picture to see the abstract version in my shop.
The Kiss… What can I say? It’s probably the most breathtakingly beautiful sculpture I ever seen in my life. It was the main reason why I wanted to visit the Rodin Museum. I saw a video while planning my trip to Paris of someone exploring the museum and I saw that sculpture briefly and I thought wow… and the person in the video talked briefly about it and I thought I need to see this sculpture. Honestly, the main sculpture I knew about that Rodin made was The Thinker before visiting the museum. I didn’t know about The Kiss and I can’t say how thankful I am to visit this museum.
It was my first stop after checking into the Hotel Duquesne. My itinerary for the trip was extremely heavy. I didn’t have much time to rest in between visits. I knew going to the museum on the 9th and 10th wasn’t going to be possible so I thought the only time I had was the day I arrived to Paris which was the 8th. As soon as I dropped my bags, I headed off to the Rodin which thankfully wasn’t far from the hotel. I had an hour before the gardens closed to fully explore. I also didn’t want to stay too long because I was on a plane for seven hours before landing in Paris, had to find a clinic that did walk in covid tests for my travels and also check in the hotel. I was exhausted about 99 percent of the time throughout my trip but I couldn’t even think about the fatigue because I was just so marveled and internally speechless about actually being in Paris.
When I was at the museum, I was surprised that it wasn’t crowded. I know it was kind of late in the day but I was expecting more people. It wasn’t empty but close to it. Funny enough, before I went inside the museum there was large group of students standing outside. Still I don’t know if they already visited the museum or was planning to go inside. One of the teachers told me they weren’t in line. Seeing the group had me initially think that it was going to be crowded. As soon as I stepped inside the museum I was in awe. The museum looked like a mansion, it was just so beautiful. The sculptures truly had me perplexed but in the best of ways. Many of them had expressions of awe, shock, dismay, just the boldest of expressions that I never seen before. I’ve mentioned this before but I’m more into abstract and impressionist art. I was never into sculptures. Well not until my visit to Rodin that is…
When I found The Kiss, my jaw dropped. I mean I just stood there for a moment in awe of the beauty and sheer size of the sculpture. It was a lot bigger than I thought it would be. It took center stage in the room and it was just a magnificent piece, just a magnificent moment within itself. As mentioned above there weren’t many people in the museum and at the time there was only a few people in the room. It felt like I was alone in some ways with the sculpture. No one was next to me or even nearby. I took so many pictures. I even made a small video walking around the sculpture. I might post it unlisted on my channel. If I do, I’ll update this post so you can see it.
The nightmare theme of this album comes back once more. As I said before, most pictures I took were in the wrong resolution and this sculpture was no different. The only pictures that I took in landscape mode were Arc De Triomphe, The Louvre, and Moulin Rouge. I was heartbroken because when I first put together my design playlist, I knew I couldn’t work this sculpture. I thought maybe I could have my drawing next to the sculpture to fill in the empty space but when I tried that to get a base design to work with later, I couldn’t make anything that didn’t distort or cover the sculpture so I thought to just abandon the design.
It was only in April of this year where I thought to revisit this design. This was only after I realized that I couldn’t make Moulin Rouge because the photos were terrible. I didn’t get a good photo of the building itself even though it was in the right resolution, lol. There were two large obstructions in front of my view. I should have walked up in front of the building but at the time I was behind schedule while walking to Palais Garnier. I wasn’t even thinking about that at the time. I was just in awe of being in the presence of Moulin Rouge and in Paris. Honestly, looking back… I was in shock throughout most of the trip. Didn’t really digest what was happening until after I came back.
Back to this design, I thought since I took pictures of the The Kiss at different angles what if I added three angles to cover the full canvas and then blend my drawing. I had some troubles with the design at first but I did manage to create something that I truly love. It’s one of my favorite designs and I’m happy I came back to it and gave it a chance. In the video album, this is the last design featured and I think the song that I used (Moontown Shores) fits really well with the design. It has dream like almost romantic feel to the song and I think it’s a beautiful way to end the album.
I read more into this sculpture and a summary of the concept is that a woman was having an affair with her husband’s brother and when the husband finds out, he finds them together and kills the couple. The lovers don’t actually kiss and it appears as though right before their lips touch the husband pulls them away. Such a tragic story and it’s based on real life. You can read more about it on the wiki.
I am so happy to have made this design and finish this album. Forever grateful to even visit the museum and see The Kiss in person.
Credits
Programs used: Paintshop Pro and Adobe After Effects
Design Base: Photo taken of The Kiss (created by Auguste Rodin), plus a digital abstract drawing I created.
Art Design created by me (Katherine Barnett|BeatnikBlends)
Click here to view The Kiss in my shop.