{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O71523"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O71523/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2026PN8150/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2026PN8150/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2026PN8150","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2026PN8153","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AM1879","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2018LC3892","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O71523","accessionNumber":"E.5067-1960","objectType":"Woodcut","titles":[{"title":"The Kiss IV","type":"assigned by artist"}],"summaryDescription":"In this woodcut Munch (1863-1944) returned to a subject he had first begun to explore in paintings, drawings and an etching of 1895. The etching shows a couple at a window with the curtains open and lights on in the buildings opposite. Between 1897, when he cut the first woodblock version of The Kiss, and 1902, when this version was completed, Munch distilled the essence of the scene down to this almost abstract image. The contours of the embracing couple mark the edge of one woodblock, which Munch printed over a background made from another block, an unworked plank whose grain forms the design.","physicalDescription":"Woodcut, printed in grey and black from two woodblocks, on Japanese paper depicting an embracing couple in black, with a highly pronounced grain of the woodblocks creating the background pattern. Signed.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Munch, Edvard","id":"A6832"},"association":{"text":"artist","id":"AAT25103"},"note":""},{"name":{"text":"Lassally","id":"A6835"},"association":{"text":"printer","id":"x30811"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"printing ink","id":"AAT187371"},{"text":"paper (fiber product)","id":"AAT14109"}],"techniques":[{"text":"woodcut","id":"AAT53296"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Woodcut on Japanese paper","categories":[{"text":"Prints","id":"THES48903"},{"text":"Woodcuts","id":"THES267451"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2026PN8150","2026PN8153","2006AM1879","2018LC3892"],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"LVLC","id":"THES49171"},"free":"","case":"MB2A","shelf":"DR76","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"colour woodcuts","id":"AAT41412"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"No","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1902","earliest":"1902-01-01","latest":"1902-12-31"},"association":{"text":"printed","id":"AAT53319"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"46.9","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"printed surface","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"46.9","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"printed surface","note":""},{"dimension":"Height","value":"58","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"sheet","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"56.9","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"sheet","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"Edv Munch","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"pencil","method":"","position":"bottom right and back","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"Signature","note":"Signature; bottom right and back; pencil"},{"content":"Lashaly","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"pencil","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"pencil"}],"objectHistory":"There are four variations of this woodcut by Munch. The Kiss I and II were produced in 1897. The Kiss III was created in 1898. This version, The Kiss IV, was created in 1902. In each case the artist played with different textures in the background by using modifying the woodblocks used.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Woodcut on Japanese paper by Edvard Munch, 'The Kiss', fourth version. Norwegian, 1902.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Timmers, Margaret (ed), <i>Impressions of the Twentieth Century: Fine Art Prints from the V&A's Collection</i>, London, V&A Publications, 2001:\r\n\r\n'The full text of the entry is as follows: \r\n\r\n\"<b>Edvard Munch (1863-1944)</b> \r\n\r\n<i>The Kiss</i>, fourth version, 1902 \r\n\r\n<i>The kiss \r\nTwo burning lips against mine\r\nheaven and earth vanished \r\nand two black eyes looked \r\ninto mine -</i> \r\n\r\n<i>from Edvard Munch, The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil</i> \r\n\r\nLike many artists and writers at the turn of the century, the Norwegian artist Munch believed that significance lay beyond what was visible; he was intrigued by the unseen world of emotions, moods and ideas, the most intimate experiences of the human spirit.  Taking the outer appearances of things as the basis of a common vocabulary for communication he shaped his images to create signs for deeper experience: love, jealousy, anxiety and death. \r\nIn this woodcut Munch returned to a motif that he first begun to explore in paintings, drawings and an etching of 1895.  The etching shows a couple before a window, with the curtains open and lights on in the buildings opposite.  Between 1897, when he cut the first woodblock version of <i>The Kiss</i>, and 1902, when this version was completed, Munch distilled the essence of the kiss from the more circumstantial narrative of the early etching to this iconic abstraction. \r\nArms encircling each other, the two lovers seem to have become one.  With their features undefined, their faces merge in a single shape.  The contours of the embracing couple mark the edge of one woodblock, which Munch cut out and printed over a background taken from another block - an uncut plank whose grain forms its only design.  In an earlier version Munch printed the whole image from a single block, cutting out the figures in order to ink them in a different colour from the background before reassembling the pieces like a jigsaw to print the image.  The use of two blocks brings mew meaning to the image.  The two colours and two different woodgrains intermingle across the figures so that they seem to hover in and out of the plane of the uncut wood: it is as if they are seen through driving rain or insubstantially, as an idea or in a memory.  In another of Munch's prints, <i>The Lonely Ones</i>, on which a man and a woman are shown looking out to sea, the woman was printed from one block, and the man and beach from another, the different blocks symbolic of their spiritual separation.  In contrast, the overs in <i>The Kiss</i> have been united forever in a single block of wood.  The independence of this black from the background perhaps symbolizes the lovers' oblivion to their surroundings: technique is fused with meaning.\""}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"lovers","id":"AAT188621"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["E.5067-1960"],"accessionNumberNum":"5067","accessionNumberPrefix":"E","accessionYear":1960,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-04-02","recordCreationDate":"2002-12-05","availableToBook":false}}