“Kiss” embodies the passion of love that unites two people. Munch represents a “fatal sexual attraction”: the picture is intended not so much to cause the erotic associations of the viewer as to convince him of the devastating, destroying effects of sex. We do not see the mouths of a man and a woman – their faces merge into one shapeless color stain, which makes a repulsive impression.
Stanislav Przybyshevsky, one of Munch’s friends, subtly caught the main idea of the artist, describing the picture as follows: “These are two figures whose faces merge. It’s impossible to look at their features: we only see the place where they joined. stunned by the pressure of the pulsating blood. This is a pool of blood in which the souls of kissing drown. This is disgusting, although it looks so natural that the master can hardly be accused of deliberate eccentricity – most likely we are dealing with his subjective perception with a kiss, which he openly and sincerely shares with us. “
Munch represents a loving couple in the center of the composition, which is locked to the right by a brownish-red wall, and to the left by a light blue curtain, letting in yellow sunlight and, at the same time, separating the figures merged into a kiss from the outside world. The artist manages to achieve a striking “emotional-aural” effect – the contrast between the silence of the room and the street noise gives the atmosphere of the picture a hint of intimacy.
The picture is written by free, wide movements of the brush. In the scattered twilight of the room, the kissing couple forms a flat, abstract spot. Munch leads the figures of the characters in a dark contour – a similar technique brings together the painting canvas with wood engraving.
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