The Kiss – Peter Behrens (1898) – Art Nouveau Canvas Print

Peter Behrens’s The Kiss is one of the defining graphic works of German Jugendstil, presenting two faces meeting in an intimate kiss while their long, flowing hair intertwines to form an elaborate ornamental frame. Behrens reduces the figures almost entirely to profile silhouettes and sweeping contours, eliminating conventional modeling and depth in favor of a remarkably flat, decorative composition. The restricted palette of warm browns and ochres against a cool green-blue ground, together with the emphatic black outlines, gives the image the bold, almost textile-like quality characteristic of turn-of-the-century decorative design.

Originally created as a color woodcut and published in Pan, volume IV, no. 2, in 1898, The Kiss became one of Behrens’s best-known works from his early career as a painter and graphic designer. The tangled, serpentine hair is especially characteristic of the Art Nouveau “whiplash” line, transforming the human figure into an organic pattern that fills virtually the entire picture plane. The work is also notable for the deliberate ambiguity of its two figures: their simplified features and lack of conventional gender markers make the image feel less like a portrait of specific people than an exploration of intimacy, desire, and decorative form.

 

🖨️ Print features:

– Sustainable canvas stretched on radial pine frame

– Unique canvas coating for top-notch image quality

– Soft rubber dots on bottom back corners for support

– Safe latex inks for non-toxic printing

– Back hanging included

– Inner frame made with radiata pine sourced from renewable forests

– Please note: Due to the production process of the canvases, please allow for slight size deviations with a tolerance +/- 1/8″ (3.2mm)

– Care instructions: If the canvas does gather any dust, you may wipe it off gently with a clean, damp cloth.

 

🚚 Fulfillment, Shipping, and Return Policy:

– Printed and shipped from the U.S.

– As our items are unique and made to order, we can only accept a return or exchange in the event that an item arrives damaged or misprinted. We cannot accept returns if you order the wrong size or change your mind. Any return requests must be made within 14 days of receiving the order.

 

💬 Questions? Looking for something else, or want something in a different size? Feel free to reach out anytime; we’ll see what we can do!