--- title: Valentine's Day: Famous Kisses From History description: Find out which 5 kisses that made history, from V-J Day in Times Square to The Kiss by Auguste Rodin, for Valentine's Day. canonical: https://time.com/4670960/kisses-history-video-2/ author: Olivia B. Waxman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-02-14T19:00:03.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-07T07:17:07.053Z og:title: These 5 Famous Kisses Made History og:description: Including that iconic Times Square smooch og:url: https://time.com/4670960/kisses-history-video-2/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt58cc2f5ebd267171/6988af10f887dc013fe9845c/eisenstaedt-vj-day.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1713 og:image:height: 964 og:image:alt: VJ DAY og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: These 5 Famous Kisses Made History twitter:description: Including that iconic Times Square smooch twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt58cc2f5ebd267171/6988af10f887dc013fe9845c/eisenstaedt-vj-day.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # These 5 Famous Kisses Made History > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account. ## Video: 5 Kisses That Made History [Watch (HLS stream): 5 Kisses That Made History](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/g8XCEzQs.m3u8) (1:34)  _Published 2017-02-14. From Auguste Rodin's The Kiss to V-J Day in Times Square._ by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/) and [Kenneth Bachor](https://time.com/author/kenneth-bachor/) Feb 14, 2017 7:00 PM UTC From Auguste Rodin's The Kiss to V-J Day in Times Square. by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/) and [Kenneth Bachor](https://time.com/author/kenneth-bachor/) Feb 14, 2017 7:00 PM UTC On Valentine’s Day, people may think back on the kisses from their own lives in which sparks flew — or share some new ones. But when it comes to kisses that have made headlines, the sparks flying haven’t necessarily been a matter of love at first sight. In fact, it was often the opposite. Exhibit A: **Auguste Rodin’s sculpture** **_The Kiss_**, which was first displayed in 1887\. “It was startling in its day: completely naked figures in contexts that weren’t mythological stories, just showing man and woman kissing for sake of it,” says Jennifer Thompson, curator at the Rodin Museum in Philadelphia. When the statue was exhibited at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, it had to be kept in a private room, and men discouraged women from going inside. Then there’s **_The Kiss,_** **the 1896 film** shot by Thomas Edison’s Vitascope cinema projector, which is considered the first movie kiss. Actors May Irwin and John Rice reprised the smooch from their Broadway comedy _The Widow Jones._ Even though most of the 19-second clip just shows the two of them talking and nuzzling, many theaters refused to show it, and the film got negative reviews from viewers like the one who declared that [“the spectacle of their prolonged pasturing](http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,1074957,00.html) on each other’s lips was hard to bear.” “We really didn’t know how to react to what movies were, and now you’re in this room with a bunch of other people—that was awkward to watch,” says Timothy B. Jay, editor of the recently released reference text _We Did What?! Offensive and Inappropriate Behavior in American History._ [_Get your history fix in one place: sign up for the weekly TIME History newsletter_](http://time.com/newsletter) **“V-J Day in Times Square”** is the most recognizable photograph of a kiss, shot by LIFE Magazine photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt in 1945\. The most frequently reproduced image of the 20th century, “it forms the basis of our collective memory of that transformative moment in world history,” as TIME noted in explaining why the image was one of those selected for a list of the[ 100 Most Influential Images of All Time.](http://100photos.time.com/photos/kiss-v-j-day-times-square-alfred-eisenstaedt) Another news-making kiss, from 1968, was Rocco Morabito’s **“Kiss of Life,”** showing an electrical worker trying to resuscitate a fellow lineman who got electrocuted. It became the first spot news photo ever to win a Pulitzer Prize. And a decade later, in 1979, Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev and East German President Erich Honecker shared a **fraternal** **“Kremlin kiss”** in honor of the 30th anniversary of the German Democratic Republic. Eastern Bloc pols would exchange this expression of solidarity when the Soviet Union existed, and Russian painter Dmitri Vrubel even memorialized it in a [mural](http://www.nytimes.com/1990/12/02/opinion/keep-a-shadow-of-the-wall.html) on the Berlin Wall captioned “God help me to survive this deadly love affair.” But, while some kisses may have sparked controversy, public displays of affection have gotten more and more common over the years since Rodin’s sculpture first made waves — and in fact, one of the reasons Rodin’s _The Kiss_ is so recognizable more than a century later may be _because_ of what made it so scandalous at the time. As Thompson points out, the figures’ nudity means there’s no reason to think they belong to one era or another. “There’s a timelessness quality to it,” she says. Indeed, as time goes by, the more people realize [a kiss is just a kiss](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Do2olZ49M54&feature=youtu.be&t=27s). ## Transcript [00:00] [ MUSIC ] [00:02] This kiss commissioned in 1888 cemented Auguste [00:04] Rodin's reputation at a time when he was struggling to [00:07] get recognition. Its hundreds of bronze casts also [00:09] made him rich. [ NOISE ] It was extremely controversial [00:12] for Victorian audiences. When it came to the US in [00:15] 1893 for the world's fair in Chicago, it had to be [00:17] shown in a private room. And women were advised not [00:19] to go see it. It was one of the most scandalous [00:22] sculptures of its time, but went on to redefine what a [00:24] kiss looks like, especially in art and film. Speaking of [00:27] film, this kiss from Thomas Edison's film called The [00:30] Kiss is considered the first movie kiss. Actors May Irwin [00:34] and John Rice share a 19 second smooch in this 1896 [00:36] film shot by Edison's videoscope cinema projector [00:39] Critics called it disgusting, but kissing in movies was [00:42] here to stay. This kiss is technically called VJ day in [00:45] Times Square. Alfred [ UNKNOWN ] took a photograph [00:48] for Life magazine. It came to symbolize the relief and [00:50] hope represented by the end of World War II. It has [00:53] since provoked controversy over who the kissers where [00:55] and what exactly was going on, but it is the most [00:58] frequently reproduced picture of the 20th century. [01:00] This kiss is actually an electrical worker trying to [01:03] resuscitate his co- worker after an electrocution. The [01:06] 1968 photo by Rocco Morabito called kiss of life [01:10] became the first spot news photo ever to win a Pulitzer [01:12] Prize. Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev and East German [01:15] President Erich Honecker shared this fraternal Kremlin [01:18] kiss in honor of the 30th anniversary of the German [01:21] Democratic Republic in 1979. So just goes to show, [01:24] whether or not it's romantic, one kiss can make all the [01:27] difference. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4670960/kisses-history-video-2/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4670960/kisses-history-video-2/"},"headline":"These 5 Famous Kisses Made History","datePublished":"2017-02-14T19:00:03.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-07T07:17:07.053Z","description":"Including that iconic Times Square smooch","url":"https://time.com/4670960/kisses-history-video-2/","keywords":["motto","relationships","Holidays"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt58cc2f5ebd267171/6988af10f887dc013fe9845c/eisenstaedt-vj-day.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Olivia B. 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