Françoise Bornet, the woman in the iconic kiss photograph taken by Robert Doisneau, has died at the age of 93 as a result of a domestic accident in the city of Évreux, according to French media reports.
Bornet is the protagonist of what is probably the most famous kiss in the world, captured by Doisneau’s artistic lens in front of the Paris City Hall in 1950 (Le Baiser de l’Hotel de Ville) and which has been reproduced thousands of times on postcards and journals.
Taken in 1950 near Paris City Hall, the black and white photograph shows a man and woman kissing surrounded by passersby. A true symbol of love and peace after World War II, the photo was taken for Life magazine and traveled around the world.
In the image, Bornet kisses with her partner at the time, Jacques Carteaud. Sitting on a terrace, the couple was discovered by Robert Doisneau and agreed to pose for his lens for the sum of 500 francs.
“I was with my lover. We kept kissing. We kissed everywhere. All the time. Robert Doisneau was at the bar and asked us to pose for him,” the protagonist of the image then explained. Some time later, the couple separated and the photograph became the center of a dispute.
In fact, in 1992, the Lavergne couple claimed to be the protagonists of the image and demanded 500,000 francs from the photographer for violating their private life. Françoise Bornet, proving her identity in the original photograph, also filed a lawsuit and demanded 100,000 francs.
