The Kiss

2018
Inkjet on watercolour paper
90 x 60 centimeters

Edvard Munch's 1897 painting The Kiss, depicting a couple fused together in embrace has been interpreted by art historian Rheinhold Heller as suggesting "loss of individuality, a loss of one's own existence and identity which hints at death," which are themes that chime with Munch's gloomy view of existence.

Undoubtedly, this psychological reading is an interesting take on the artist's work, but I chose to refocus it in another direction, infidelity, and despite some misgivings, I gave the piece a autobiographic slant by inserting objects from my past. The picture on the wall is a screen print of a couple whose relationship is probably souring was made in the years after graduating art school and the records strewn on the floor are a sampling of the type of music I played at the time.

The pitiful sight of the woman outside in the dark looking in through the window is a scenario I had previously visited but chose to abandon because it felt too overwrought. It was a reversal of the kiss, the viewpoint was from outside with a man laid on the ground in darkness and a nearby dog balefully looking at him, he could have been drunk or he could have died from a broken heart because through a window, bathed in a cosy light, a woman with her man can be seen sensuously enjoying a dance.

Edvard Munch, The Kiss : Google Arts and Culture

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