The protagonist of Robert Doisneau's historic kiss photo has died at the age of 93

Françoise Bornet, the protagonist of Robert Doisneau's historic photo, died at the age of 93. In 1950, she allowed herself to be photographed with her boyfriend at the time, Jacques Corteaux, without knowing that years later, that image would break sales records around the world.

His death occurred last Monday, December 25, and was confirmed at the beginning of 2024 by the newspaper Le Parisien.

It turns out that Life magazine had commissioned Doisneau to report on the lovers of the City of Light, so the artist sent dozens of photographs, among which was that of Bornet. At the time of the photo, which at first was thought to have been coincidental, the young drama student agreed to pose with Corteaux while they kissed near the Paris City Hall, so the scene was titled Le baiser de l'Hôtel de Ville, or The Kiss of the City Hall.

"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," Bornet explained at the time.

At first, the image was practically forgotten, lost among the other works of the French artist, but it unexpectedly attracted worldwide fame at the end of the 20th century.

In 1992, amid the boom in marketing and symbolic images, the photo broke all sales records, selling over 400,000 copies on different media. Furthermore, in 2005, one of the originals of the picture was sold for 184,960 euros.

Such success led Bornet to demand a percentage for the reproduction of her image in 1993. However, the local justice system denied her the requested commission based on the fact that her face was not clearly recognized as it was covered by that of her partner.