This Valentine's Day 2025, AD revisits some of the most popular artworks that depict love.
From the earliest cave paintings to the gilded flourishes of the Vienna Secession, artists have attempted to capture love in all its forms – lustful, exhilarating, and unbearable. Some iconic artworks render romance in soft, dreamy brushstrokes, while others twist heartbreak into something raw and jagged. And it’s not just confined to the canvas; performance artists have turned their own relationships into high-stakes emotional theatre. Even today’s most conceptual works, which at first glance seem too cool and detached to know anything about love, still pulse with its undercurrents. Here, we explore eight artworks that unravel the complexities of love – whether passionate, painful, or somewhere in between.
Antonio Canova’s Psyche Revived by Cupid’s Kiss (1787-1793)
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To the untrained eye, Antonio Canova’s Psyche Revived by Cupid’s Kiss might just look like a couple of marble figures sharing a tender moment. But, any art historian would tell you, there’s far more to it than that. This Neoclassical masterpiece depicts the moment when Cupid, the god of love, awakens Psyche with a kiss, capturing both the intensity and vulnerability of love in one fleeting scene. Commissioned by a wealthy Venetian nobleman, the piece took Canova six years to complete. At the time, it was considered an audacious take on the classical myth, capturing a moment of love that was both tender and dramatic. Before this moment, Psyche had endured a series of trials imposed by Cupid’s jealous mother, Venus, all while unaware of her lover’s true identity. Here, Canova captures the moment the love between Cupid and Psyche reaches a resolution, symbolising the moment it triumphs over adversity. The rest of their story, like most relationships, is complicated.
Gustav Klimt’s The Kiss (1907-1908)
At first glance Gustav Klimt’s masterpiece, The Kiss, seems like a gilded love affair – a couple wrapped in a golden embrace. But dive deeper, and you’ll find Klimt's signature style, a decadent and opulent aesthetic, is almost too beautiful for its own good. The male figure’s dominant, almost possessive hold on the woman contrasts with her more passive, surrendered posture, prompting endless debates about love, desire, and power. Their intimate connection feels distant, like a love frozen in time, making you question if they’re truly in sync, or if the golden hue is hiding something more complex. Oh, love.
Felix Gonzalez-Torres “Untitled” (Double Portrait) (1991)
Félix González-Torres’s “Untitled” (Double Portrait) (1991) unveils the subtle, often complex nature of modern-day love in a way that only contemporary art, not limited by the traditional canvas, could. Rather than leaning on grandiose gestures of affection, González-Torres distils love into something quiet, ephemeral, and profoundly intimate. The piece consists of a stack of printed sheets, each available for the viewer to take. As pieces are removed, the pile diminishes, mirroring love’s transient and cyclical nature – how it is given away, shared, and also how it can fade and come back again.
Marina Abramović and Ulay’s The Lovers: The Great Wall Walk (1988)
Maybe Valentine's Day is not the best time to bring up this performance piece, but heartbreak is the other side of the coin called love and Marina Abramović has long pushed the envelope, challenging our notions of life and love with performances that test her body and mind to their limits. The Lovers: The Great Wall Walk is one such performance, which makes a song and dance about one of life’s most tragic inevitabilities: a breakup. In this performance, Abramović and Ulay – once lovers and collaborators – set out from opposite ends of the Great Wall of China, meeting in the middle only to say goodbye for good. This act wasn’t just about affection; it redefined love as an intense, almost sacrificial gesture, and the distance between them, both physical and emotional, was the art itself.
Roy Lichtenstein’s Drowning Girl (1963)
Valentine's Day a poster girl for over-the-top romantic drama, she would look like Lichtenstein’s Drowning Girl. With her oversized tear and dramatic wail, she’s the perfect blend of high art and melodramatic flair. Painted in 1963 and now housed at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the work is a prime example of the artist’s signature Benday dot technique, borrowed from comic book printing. The real kicker is the caption: “I don’t care! I’d rather sink than call Brad for help!” That simple line transforms her tragedy into something comically detached as Lichtenstein exaggerates the highs and lows until it feels like we’re watching a soap opera in a gallery.
Frida Kahlo’s Diego and I (1949)
The love story of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera is fraught with drama of both the public and private variety, captured perfectly in Diego and I (1949). One of her final self-portraits before her death, the painting was created during a period of immense personal turmoil, reflecting the anguish of Rivera’s infidelity. In this haunting work, Kahlo’s face is marked by the image of Rivera, his eyes eerily placed on his forehead, as if he’s always watching – an omnipresent force in her life. Amongst the pantheon of iconic artworks, this one is not an ideal of love but a love steeped in pain, sacrifice, and an inescapable connection. A somewhat tragically interesting fact: In 2021, Diego and I proved that this sort of intense heartbreak holds value, becoming the most expensive Latin American artwork ever sold at auction, fetching $34.9 million.
Yayoi Kusama’s Love Is Calling (2013)
It’s one of the most iconic immersive installations of the 21st century, yet, amid the kaleidoscope of Instagrammable sensations, the deeper message about love often goes unnoticed. Yayoi Kusama's Love Is Calling (2013) immerses visitors in a surreal world of polka dots, neon lights, and infinite reflections, capturing love's chaotic, ever-evolving nature beneath its frenetic surface. The artist’s voice chanting “Love is calling” echoes through the space, whilst an infinite expanse of mirrors creates the sense of being lost. It’s a damning depiction of love in many ways, touching on the consuming aspect of affection. Yet, amidst this tumult lies an undeniable beauty, offering a reflection on how love – much like Kusama's immersive world – is both messy and exhilarating in equal measure.
Marc Chagall’s The Birthday (1887)
If you've made it through the first 7, you'll know that more often than not, the most iconic artworks depicting love highlight its most heart-wrenching moments – or at least the origin stories of love tales gone wrong. Marc Chagall’s The Birthday is a refreshing departure from that theme. It radiates pure, unfiltered joy. In this painting, Chagall, so overwhelmed by love for his fiancée Bella, appears to float midair as he twists to kiss her. The dreamlike quality, the vibrant colours, and the sense of movement all capture love at its most intoxicating and carefree. There’s no anguish, no loss – just love in its purest, most blissfully surreal form. There’s hope for all of us yet.
