Kiss of Innocence

Eugène Carrière and his wife, Sophie, had seven children, who would become the principle subject matter of his art. A painting of the same name (private collection) shows their first-born daughter, Elise (1878–1934), and Léon (1881–1885), who died in childhood, in an intimate embrace. The small, one-year-old brother tenderly grasps the face of his sister, who was about four years old at the time, kissing her on the mouth. Carrière arranged the figures in soft, flowing forms. The faces and the clothing that frames them have been wrought with light from out of the monochrome background, at the same time appearing as if veiled in a mist and making the scene seem remote. Carrière was an outsider among the Symbolists, a master of intimacy, who captured what was hidden behind the visible with his unconventionally poetic, atmospheric painting. His art was highly esteemed by numerous artists and art critics. His friend Auguste Rodin stated in 1906, when Carrière died: “Most pictures one sees in exhibitions are only painting: his [Carrière’s] own seemed to be windows that open onto life.”