Kiss woman sells classic photo for €156,000
The Kiss at City Hall was bought by an unidentified Swiss buyer, according to Artcurial Briest Pulain le Fur auction house, where the sale took place.
Auctioneer Herve Poulain said he believed the price was among the highest ever for a 20th century photograph.
It was put up for auction by Francoise Bornet - a former actress who claims she and an old flame were the subjects of the image, which was taken in 1950 and skyrocketed to fame in 1986 when it was reprinted as a poster.
Ms Bornet, 75, said she was delighted at the sale, and planned to use the proceeds towards starting up a film production studio.
“It’s like a Christmas present,” she said of the sale. “This love that was so sincere comes out in the photo - so it’s perfect to have fetched the price it did.”
The black-and-white picture of a young couple kissing in front of Paris’s City Hall with harried passers-by fading into the background evoked a spontaneous moment of romance that affirmed Paris’s reputation as the city of blissful love.
Ms Bornet says that in 1950 she and her boyfriend Jacques Carteaud were embracing in a cafe near the school where the two young students were studying theatre. Mr Doisneau, who was working on a photo series about lovers in Paris for Life magazine, approached them, Ms Bornet says.
They met a few days later to recreate the kiss. The photo appeared in Life magazine that year.
Ms Bornet said she had sent the print to her mother years ago, along with copies of posters from films and plays that she had acted in.
She found the photo while sifting through memorabilia left behind by her mother after she died. Ms Bornet expressed no regret about parting with the photograph.
“This kiss is engraved in my memory,” she said.
“It’s a wonderful memory, is all. I don’t need the image to remember it.”
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