Le Baiser de l'Hotel de Ville (section)

Two young lovers share a kiss in the middle of a busy Paris street, completely lost in their own world while the city moves around them. This is one of the most famous photographs ever made, captured by French photographer Robert Doisneau in 1950 near the Hotel de Ville, the city's grand town hall. The black and white image became a symbol of romance and of Paris itself, reproduced on countless posters and postcards over the decades.

Here is the twist that surprised many fans. For years people believed Doisneau had snapped a spontaneous moment of real love by pure luck. But in the 1990s, after a couple tried to sue him claiming to be the pair in the photo, the truth came out. The kiss was actually staged. Doisneau had hired two young actors and asked them to embrace while he photographed the scene. He worked in the documentary style of his time, yet he was not above arranging things to get exactly the picture he wanted.

Knowing it was posed does not really take away its charm. The photo still captures something true about being young and in love in a great city, and that feeling is why people keep coming back to it more than seventy years later.