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How does The Kiss show two people losing their individuality?
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Edvard Munch
Photograph of Norwegian artist Edvard Munch standing in snow.
In Edvard Munch’s 1892 painting The Kiss, the loss of individuality is depicted through the physical and visual merging of the two subjects. As the man and woman engage in a tender and passionate embrace, their bodies blend into a single, undulating form.1
Munch further emphasizes this dissolution of the self by painting their faces so that they melt completely into one another, ensuring that neither figure retains distinct or individual features. This artistic choice reflects Munch’s broader exploration of love as a powerful, elemental force; rather than focusing on specific people, the work portrays the human experience of union, where the surrender of the individual ego is both desired and feared.1