Gustav Klimt’s The Kiss (1907–1908) is one of the most iconic visual representations of intimacy in Western art. Beyond its aesthetic and symbolic impact, the painting offers a profound meditation on the skin as a sensory, emotional, and symbolic interface. Recent contributions in the field of medical humanities have demonstrated that Klimt’s work can be meaningfully explored from biomedical and clinical perspectives, reinforcing the value of interdisciplinary dialogue between art and medicine. This article examines The Kiss through a dermatological humanities lens, focusing on exposed skin, tactile contact, and the metaphorical role of gold as both a protective and separating surface. The visual tension between figurative skin and ornamental covering is interpreted in relation to contemporary concepts of the skin barrier, affective touch, and psychodermatology. In parallel, scientific evidence describing the changes associated with romantic intimacy and skin-to-skin contact is reviewed. By integrating iconographic analysis with current biological knowledge, this article highlights how Klimt’s painting provides a powerful framework for reflecting on the skin not only as a biological organ but also as a central space for intimacy, identity, and human connection. • Gustav Klimt’s The Kiss , provides a unique visual framework to explore the skin as a physical boundary and emotional interface. • Together, art and dermatology offer a humanistic perspective that enriches the clinical understanding of the skin as a space for human connection. • The representation of the kiss is not the exclusive domain of the arts; medicine has incorporated this concept into its clinical nomenclature as a technical descriptor of morphological patterns and biological transmission mechanisms • Artistic and medical perspectives on the kiss reveal just how rich and layered this simple act can be. From Klimt’s golden lovers to the works of Canova, Rodin, and Brâncuși, a kiss is more than a gesture, it is both a sensory and symbolic expression of desire, trust, and human connection.
Rodríguez-Lechtig et al. (Sun,) studied this question.