Bodily embrace.

IT IS NOT EASY TO SAY EXACTLY WHAT LOVE IS. The Kiss might seem a perfect illustration: the passionate emotional and physical involvement of two people. In the intensity of their embrace, Klimt's couple have become one, fused together by their mutual ardor. Is this love? Or is it only the appearance of love? Are they giving to each other, or using each other? Are they concerned with the body as integral to the self, or just the body as an instrument? When they part, the two robed forms withdrawing once again into separateness, will each feel greater reverence for the personality of the other or not? A bodily embrace is very precious, but its real value depends upon what it signifies.

SISTER WENDY BECKETT of Norfolk, England, well-known for her BBC and PBS television art series and her popular art books. Reprinted with permission from: Sister Wendy's Book of Meditations (DK Publishing, 1998;888-342-5357). Painting: The Kiss, 1908, Gustav Klimt, Osterreichische Galerie, Vienna.