Art with the word love

A round-up list of top paintings of love in art. The theme of “love” is one of the most commonly used metaphors in all artistic mediums. Claude Monet, Edouard Monet, Raja Ravi Varma, Renoir, etc. are few of the great artists who have created the greatest works of art using love as the central theme.

Christ among Doctors by Albrecht Dürer

Christ among doctors is a painting produced by Albrecht Dürer in 1506. There is an inscription which says Opus Quinque Dierum’ meaning ‘Made in five days’ so it is believed that Christ among doctors was completed in just five days.

The Lictors Bring to Brutus the Bodies of His Sons by Jacques Louis David

The Lictors Bring to Brutus the Bodies of His Sons is a painting produced by Jacques Louis David in 1789. The original title of this painting was too long and goes like this Brutus returning home after having sentenced his sons for plotting a tarquinian restoration and conspiring against roman freedom, the Lictors burnt their bodies to be buried.

Oath of the Horatii by Jacques Louis David

Oath of the Horatti is a painting produced by Jacques Louis David in 1784. This painting is from Neoclassical style and thus known to be one of the best among that style. In this painting, a father is holding swords of his son going to war.

Andromache Mourning Hector by Jacques Louis David

Andromache Mourning Hector is a painting produced by Jacques Louis David in 1783. Achilles killed hector who was Andromache husband and thus she’s mourning over his death while the child gave comfort to his mother. The painting can be viewed at Musée du Louvre, Paris.

The Death of Leonardo da Vinci by Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres

The Death of Leonardo da Vinci is a painting produced by Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres in 1818. The french painter painted the death of the greatest artist of all time Leonardo da vinci with king Francis I of France holding his head and receiving his last breath.

Family Reunion by Frederic Bazille

Family Reunion is a painting produced by Frederic Bazille in 1867. This painting if tried to be painted in black and white then it’ll certainly pass as photographs. This painting can be viewed at Musee d’Orsay, Paris.

Doni Tondo by Michelangelo Buonarroti

Doni Tondo is a painting produced by Michelangelo Buonarroti between 1506 and 1507. This painting is also widely known by the name Doni Madonna or The Holy Family. Doni tondo painting is influenced by Leonardo da Vinci, The Virgin and Child with St.Anne.

The Lovers by Rene Magritte

The Lovers is a painting produced by Rene Magritte in 1928. The Belgian artist was only 30 years old when she painted The Lovers. In this painting, two figures were shown, one male and the other female locked in an embrace.

The Cradle by Berthe Morisot

The Cradle is a painting produced by Berthe Morisot in 1872. Exactly after two years, this painting was exhibited at Impressionist exhibition in 1874. The Cradle is Berthe Morisot most famous works of all time and she was the first woman who exhibited a painting.

Madonna and Child and Two Angels by Filippo Lippi

The Madonna and Child and Two Angels is a painting produced by Filippo Lippi around 1465. This painting is regarded as one of the most famous and admired masterpieces of The Renaissance period. This painting can be viewed at Uffizi Gallery, Florence.

The Bolt by Jean Honore Fragonard

The Bolt is a painting produced by Jean Honore Fragonard around 1778. In this painting, a young man is shown who is reaching the bolt (right hand) in order to detain his loved one. The painting can be viewed at Museum Louvre.

Bacchus and Ariadne by Titian

Bacchus and Ariadne is a painting produced by Titian between 1522 and 1523. This painting is one of the prominent masterpieces of Italian Renaissance paintings. This painting tells the story of Ariadne who was the daughter of King Menos and Bacchus who was a god.

The Kiss by Gustav Klimt

The Kiss is a painting produced by Gustav Klimt between 1907 and 1908. This painting was developed around the Golden period and it depicts a couple embracing, their bodies entwined in elaborate robes. This painting can be viewed at Osterreichische Galerie Belvedere museum in the Belvedere palace, Vienna.

The Subject of Pregnancy Art – Hope II by Gustav Klimt

With Father Lathuille by Édouard Manet

With Father, Lathuille is a painting produced by Édouard Manet in 1879. The subject of this painting was a famous cabaret of father Lathuille and then a restaurant of the Batignolles. This painting can be viewed at Museum of Fine Arts of Tournai.

The Fisherman and the Syren by Frederic Leighton

The Fisherman and the Syren is a painting produced by Frederic Leighton in 1857. It depicts two figures, one male who is a fisherman and the other female who is Syren and they represents in an embracing position. This painting can be viewed at Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery, Bristol, UK.

Sohni Mahiwal by Sobha Singh

Sohni Mahiwal is a painting produced by Sobha Singh in 2013. It is regarded as one of the four tragic romances of Punjab, India. Sohni was a heroine who got married to a man, unhappily and at every night swims in the river towards her beloved Mahiwal.

Cupid and Psyche as Children by William Adolphe Bouguereau

Cupid and Psyche as Children is a painting produced by William Adolphe Bouguereau in 1890. The artist depicts Greek mythological figures Cupid and Psyché as children, sharing an embrace and kiss. This painting is currently in a private collection.

The Jewish Bride by Rembrandt

The Jewish Bride is a painting produced by Rembrandt in 1667. In this painting, the Dutch artist depicts a Jewish father bestowing a necklace upon his daughter on her wedding day. This painting can be viewed at Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

Spooning Couple by Ron Mueck

Spooning Couple is a sculpture produced by Ron Mueck between 2005 and 2007. It depicts a man and woman lying down together and these both figures are semi naked. This sculpture can be viewed at The FLAG Art Foundation, New York.

Mother and Child in a Boat by Edmund Charles Tarbell

Mother and Child in a Boat is a painting produced by Edmund Charles Tarbell in 1892. The artist painted his wife Emeline as the mother and his daughter Josephine as the child in this painting. This painting can be viewed at Museum of Fine Arts (MFA), Boston, MA, US.

Honeysuckle Bower by Peter Paul Rubens

Honeysuckle Bower is a painting produced by Peter Paul Rubens in 1609. The models represent the self-portrait of Rubens and his first wife Isabella Brant. This painting can be viewed at Alte Pinakothek, Munich.

The Lovers Radha and Krishna in a Palm Grove

The Lovers Radha and Krishna in a Palm Grove is a painting produced around 1690 and 1730. It depicts romance and bhakti at the same time, Krishna the lord and Radha the bhakt twined in a dark forest. This painting can be viewed at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The Birthday by Marc Chagall

The Birthday is a painting produced by Marc Chagall in 1915. This painting depicts Chagalls beloved first wife Bella Rosenfeld and Chagall floating lovingly above is kissing her. This painting can be viewed at Museum of Fine Arts (MFA), Boston, MA, US.

There Comes Papa by Raja Ravi Varma

There Comes Papa is a painting produced by Raja Ravi Varma in 1893. This painting depicts Mahaprabha Thampuratti of Mavelikara who was the artist daughter is shown holding her daughter. This painting can be viewed at Kowdiar Palace, Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala, India.

Lovers under an Umbrella in the Snow by Suzuki Harunobu

Lovers under an Umbrella in the Snow is a painting produced by Suzuki Harunobu between 1764 and 1772. It depicts lovers strolling in the snow but perhaps a path to a love suicide. The dimension of this painting is 26.6 x 19.8 cm.

The Resurrection: Reunion of Families by Stanley Spencer

The Resurrection: Reunion of Families is a painting produced by Stanley Spencer in 1945. The medium of this painting was the handmade oil painting reproduction on Canvas.

Interested to read the most famous 14 paintings around the theme of death or 12 paintings around the theme of beauty

Throughout art history, the concept of love has attracted artists from all walks of life. Depicted in different kinds of styles and rendered in a myriad of mediums, the amorous concept continues to captivate viewers time and time again.

While there are countless alluring examples of love in art, we’ve compiled a collection of 5 pieces that stand out from the rest. Whether highlighting a marble kiss, a glistening gold embrace, or even big block letters, these heartfelt masterpieces prove that art and love are a perfect match.

Here are 5 of the most renowned romantic paintings and sculptures and forms of love art throughout art history.

Psyche Revived by Cupid’s Kiss by Antonio Canova

Antonio Canova, “Psyche Revived by Cupid’s Kiss,” 1793 (Stock Photos from peacefoo/Shutterstock)

Psyche Revived by Cupid’s Kiss is one of Neo-Classicism’s most beloved sculptures. Inspired by the love story of Cupid, the Roman god of love (adapted from the Greek Eros), and Psyche, a human-turned-goddess, this marble masterpiece was carved by Italian sculptor Antonio Canova in 1793.

The piece depicts the touching moment Psyche—who was put into a deep, death-like sleep after opening a forbidden box— is awakened by a kiss from Cupid, her husband. Canova skillfully captures the heightened and humanist emotion of the scene by paying special attention to the the lifelike expressions and intimate positioning of the figures.

“Cupid lifts his beloved Psyche in a tender embrace, his face close to hers,” the Louvre, where the piece is currently housed, explains. “Psyche lets herself sink slowly backwards, languorously taking her lover’s head between her hands.”

The Kiss by Gustave Klimt

Austrian artist Gustav Klimt painted The Kiss at the height of his Golden Phase. During this luminous period, Klimt experimented with his work, crafting avant-garde paintings with pronounced planes, intricate patterns, and delicate detailing made of gold leaf. The Kiss embodies this ethereal approach, and highlights another one of Klimt’s interests: portraying intimate subject matter.

The Kiss shows a loving couple mid-embrace. As they kneel in an otherworldly garden, the man leans in to kiss his partner, delicately cradling her face and running his hand through her flower-embellished hair. With her eyes peacefully closed, the woman wraps her arms around him, accepting and anticipating her lover’s kiss.

Klimt never disclosed the identities of the figures. However, today, the couple is widely believed to have been inspired by the artist and his companion (and perhaps lover) Emilie Flöge, a Viennese fashion designer. Much like the painting itself, their relationship is shrouded in a glittering mystery.

Love by Robert Indiana

Robert Indiana, “Love” Stock Photos from Christian Mueller/Shutterstock)

Since 1970, Robert Indiana’s large-scale Love sculptures have popped up in cities around the world. While these Pop Art pieces have taken on a romantic meaning, their original intention was less Valentine’s Day-related and more in the Christmas spirit.

In fact, Indiana came up with the familiar design—characterized by a stacked set of seraph letters spelling out the word, “LOVE”—for the Museum of Modern Art’s holiday card. Therefore, it is not surprising that the motif’s origins are actually rooted in Indiana’s religious upbringing. “I, as a child, was raised as a Christian Scientist,” Indiana explained in a letter to an art collector, “and the world LOVE was indelibly imprinted in the mind, for there is that slightly different phrase, ‘God is Love,’ on every front wall of every one of Mary Baker Eddy’s houses throughout the world.”

Over the years, Indiana’s sculptures have taken on a lovey-dovey life of their own. While the late artist had a love-hate relationship with the wildly popular series (he famously said, “It was a marvelous idea, but it was also a terrible mistake”), they will undoubtedly continue to inspire romantics for years to come.

In Bed, The Kiss by Henri Toulouse-Lautrec

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, “In Bed, The Kiss,” c. 1892-1893 (Photo: Wikimedia Commons Public Domain)

Post-Impressionist painter and graphic designer Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec is known for his posters, prints, and paintings of turn-of-the-century Paris. While most of these works capture the City of Love’s spectacular nightlife, some offer a glimpse into more intimate situations, like In Bed, The Kiss.

Created in 1892, this oil painting shows two women passionately kissing in bed. The pair are most likely Parisian prostitutes, one of Toulouse-Lautrec’s favorite and most visited artistic subjects. Like his other works set in brothels, In Bed, The Kiss offers an intimate look at the lives of these women. What sets this piece apart, however, is the inherent emotion of the scene, which the artist emphasizes with his characteristically energetic brushwork and an expressive color palette.

Toulouse-Lautrec also explored brothel life in his Elles portfolio, a collection of lithographs. Though celebrated today, these pieces were not well-received during the artist’s lifetime, as the public was not interested in “mundane intimacy.” The Museum of Modern Art explains: “Elles proved to be a commercial failure for its publisher—Gustave Pellet, who specialized in erotica—because it delivered not an exotic fantasy, but rather an intimate portrayal of women Lautrec knew firsthand and the milieu in which they lived and worked.”

The Kiss by Auguste Rodin

French sculptor Auguste Rodin completed The Kiss, a beautiful marble sculpture, between 1888 and 1898. With its “fluid, smooth modelling, [a] very dynamic composition and [a] charming theme” (The Rodin Museum), this work is one of modern art‘s most acclaimed sculptures. 

It was intended to adorn the Gates of Hell, a double-door sculpture inspired by Dante’s Inferno. Because of this source, Rodin opted to include a relief showing Francesca da Rimini—a real-life 13th-century noblewoman whose tale was featured in Dante’s Divine Comedy—in the throes of an affair with her brother-in-law.

After completing the sensual piece, however, Rodin deemed it “a large sculpted knick-knack following the usual formula.” He decided to exclude it from the doors’ final design and instead adapted it—a decision that has given us the free-standing sculpture we know and love today.

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1 | Rembrandt
The Jewish Bride (c1666)

Love is patient, love is kind: this is the visual embodiment of those great verses from Corinthians so often read at weddings. Rembrandt’s masterpiece is loving in its every brushstroke. About his young couple we know very little – who they were, whether she was a bride, whether they were actually Jewish – but this image goes beyond portraiture in any case. Their faces are radiant with adoration. Their gestures are beautiful: his hand gently placed on her breast, hers tenderly covering it. They are themselves on that day, and yet universal. The painting is a kind of secular altarpiece, an inspiration to patience, humility and love.

2 | Rubens
The Honeysuckle Bower (c1609)

Just back from honeymoon, Rubens sits hand-in-hand with his new young wife, Isabella Brant, among the honeysuckle blossom. She smiles her famously sweet smile; he leans back, legs crossed and relaxed. Everything in the garden is flourishing; and these two are secure in each other’s love. It is well known that they were perfectly matched (Rubens, a gifted writer, left eloquent letters praising Isabella’s serene good humour). Where so many 17th-century marriage portraits were rigidly formal, the historic record of a contract, this one is fluent, conversational and sensuous. The lovers incline together in all respects.

3 | Watteau

The Surprise (c1718)

In a glade, as the sun fades, with the promise of night to come, a musician sits strumming only inches away from a young couple locked in a passionate clinch. They are so rapt in their diagonal embrace – whose limbs are whose in this shudder of red and white satin? – they scarcely seem aware of this uncomfortably close spectator. Perhaps music is the food of love for them, or perhaps they are so hungry for each other they don’t hear him at all. The musician seems to show us what he (and perhaps the viewer) lacks. He’s one of Watteau’s semi-tragic observers.

4 | Renoir
Dance in the Country (1883)

Renoir’s lovers are swept away by music, dance and summer’s heat – and by each other. Their al fresco meal has been abandoned in disarray; a hat (his?) has tumbled to the ground; and she’s only just managing to keep hold of her fan as he grasps her by the wrist and waist. The whole painting seems to sway. And the crowning glory of this beautifully soft and sultry composition, with the hint of feather beds to come, is the smile on the girl’s lovely face. Candidly directed straight towards the viewer, it says that she couldn’t be happier.

5 | Klimt
The Kiss (1908)

Wrapped up in each other, the lovers are enfolded in their everlasting kiss. Their love is out of this world (the only location is this ethereal meadow of rich cloth and jewel-bright paint) and even a little celestial: their heads are haloed in gold leaf. There’s no sense of bodies beneath all this opulence, except for her elegant toes. Bare feet, flowers in their hair: no wonder hippies loved Klimt’s masterpiece and it remains the most famous kiss in painting. A perfect square of a canvas, a perfect fit of a couple: it is just what young lovers often feel, dovetailed together in their kiss as the world dissolves into a shimmer around them.

6 | Chagall
The Birthday (1915)

Love lifts them up so their feet scarcely touch the ground. Sweeping down like a comet, or an angel, he bends over backwards to kiss her. Chagall will soon be married to the teenage Bella, his beloved muse, and so the gravity-defying strength of their partnership begins. This is a vision of wild and sensual love, but also of transcendent adoration. The shawl-draped room is a kind of shrine. Chagall wrote of his future wife: “I had only to open my window and blue air, love and flowers entered in with her.”

7 | Magritte
The Lovers (1928)

A blind date? Two lovers are trying to kiss through their separate grey hoods, lips never meeting, the cloth dry and suffocating on the tongue. They cannot see each other, they cannot feel each other and they cannot even kiss: it’s a masterpiece of sexual frustration. But the cornice above their heads suggests the bourgeois imprisonment of a couple glued together by convention yet also blocked by each other. Perhaps they don’t know each other at all. It’s the nightmare of a lonely relationship. Those hoods could double as shrouds.

8 | Frida Kahlo
Self-Portrait as a Tehuana (1943)

This double portrait was begun in the late summer of 1940 after the artists Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera divorced. As so often, Kahlo makes metaphor literal. Diego is on her mind, tattooed on her brain, locked inside her head despite all the agony of his extramarital affairs. She cannot stop thinking about him. She wears the traditional Mexican costume he loved and a crown of leaves that seems to spread like a web, as if Kahlo was trapped in both the picture and the obsession. But that was not the end of their love. By the time the picture was finished, in 1943, they had remarried.

9 | Stanley Spencer
The Resurrection: Reunion (1945)

When it is all over in this world, what next? Larkin says all that survives of us is love, but in Stanley Spencer’s wondrous (and homely) vision of the Resurrection based on Port Glasgow cemetery, this love is not just some poetic notion but a great full-body hug. The lovers in the foreground, seen embracing against what looks like a gigantic Love Heart sweet, suitably inscribed, are brought back to life in the moment of a kiss. We will see each other again and our love will never die. It might be what we all hope for… and after all, who knows?

10 | Robert Indiana
Love (1965)

The word spells love. But the picture is far more than a word. That lovely round O, beside the upright L and carried by the bracing E, takes on a bodily form. It swoons, it leans, its head has been turned. It flirts. It has been knocked sideways by love. The American pop artist Robert Indiana created a pure and concentrated modern pictogram with this surpassingly famous painting, lettered in the colour of love against a blue and green landscape. The image has sold by the million, a valentine for our age. Love – what else matters?