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Love on the wikis

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Antique Valentine's Day card

What is your favorite wiki article (or image) about Love?

Hi folks,

We just published 'Love on the wikis' on the Wikimedia Blog, for your enjoyment.

Many thanks to everyone who contributed to this community-curated love collection!

We featured 18 articles, images, videos, sounds, and projects about love on the blog, collectively hand-picked by participants on this page. Be sure to check out some of the many other fine suggestions below, including some really well-written, factual and nuanced articles -- as well as many humorous, dramatic or beautiful images. Together, your posts broaden our perspectives and gave us a better understanding about love and why it matters.

What do you think about this curation experiment? Did you learn anything new? Should we do it again? If so, what themes should we focus on next? Please chime in this page's discussion, with your ideas and suggestions.

We hope that collaborations like these can help us discover new ways to share useful information, combining the wikis, our blog and social media.

Thanks again for sharing the love — and Happy Valentine's Day to all Wikimedians!

Fabrice and the Communications team at the Wikimedia Foundation.


P.S.: Be sure to also check out this uplifting 'WikiLove story' about two Wikipedians who fell in love while volunteering in Israel, thanks to a shared passion for knowledge.

Original Invitation

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What are your favorite articles and images about love?

As millions around the world prepare to celebrate Valentine’s Day, we thought it would be a good time to find out how the topic of Love is covered on Wikipedia and sister projects.

We're looking for illuminating pages or media files from any wiki, on any related topic -- ranging from platonic to fraternal, divine or romantic love.

Please add your suggestions on this wiki page. Be sure to include a link to your favorite -- and a sentence or two about why you picked it.

We also invite you to add your +1’s for suggestions you think are most insightful, to help select our top picks for Valentine's Day.

Please post your recommendations here until Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2015. On Thursday, we will prepare a report about our favorites, and publish it on the Wikimedia blog on Friday, Feb. 13, just in time for Valentine’s Day.

This page also includes favorites shared in these social media discussions:

Thanks for sharing the love :)

The Communications team at the Wikimedia Foundation



Articles

[edit]

Please recommend an article about love that you find insightful, from the wiki of your choice.

Archetypal lovers Romeo and Juliet portrayed by Frank Dicksee

Antique Valentine's Day card

A vintage Love Tester machine at w:Musée Mécanique


  • Suggested by: @Klexikon (Twitter)
  • Why I recommend it: For example our article "heart" / "Herz" #Valentinstag
  • +1: (sign here if you like it)

Golden rule image by Bernard d'Agesci, public domain.

  • Suggested by: Smallbones (talk)
  • Why I recommend it: "Love's Messenger" is a wonderful painting I found and uploaded three years ago in February while working with a previously unknown colleague on a series of articles on Pre-Raphaelite paintings. She was absolutely wonderful in helping me work through the series. Actually, though I started the series with a couple of articles, it would be better to say that I helped her finish the series. Her knowledge of the topic is much greater than mine and her enthusiasm carried the series forward when my enthusiasm began to flag. Finding a colleague like this is the greatest pleasure that I have working on Wikipedia. We wrote the article '‘Love’s Messenger” in time for Valentine’s Day, and the article and the painting appeared on the main page in DYK on the 14th. I liked the painting so much that I looked for another article for it and found the perfect one, Love letter. Even though we still haven’t met, and there is no romantic love between us, this is my “love letter” to P., and to all my great colleagues on Wikipedia.
  • +1: (sign here if you like it)
  • Suggested by: Kevin Gorman (talk)
  • Why I recommend it: I think this would be an interesting candidate to highlight one of the potential pitfalls of love. It’s been a relatively stable article for a long time, which is a bit surprising given the topic. It covers the physiological (or at least some of them) mechanisms that you can die during consensual sex from using sources that comply with the medical sourcing policy of the English Wikipedia, has a well-sourced list of, ah, unique deaths, and was primarily written during a Wikipedia-related event at the National Archives.
  • +1: (sign here if you like it)
  • Suggested by: Grace
  • Why I recommend it: Excellent discussion of love from an unconventional perspective
  • +1: (sign here if you like it)
  • Suggested by: Shams Tabrizi (Facebook)
  • Why I recommend it: Love can take many forms
  • +1: (sign here if you like it)
  • Suggested by: Jake Phillips (Facebook)
  • Why I recommend it: Love is tricky some times
  • +1: (sign here if you like it)
  • Suggested by Jade (Twitter)
  • Why I recommended it: who doesn't like a royal romance.
  • +1: (sign here if you like it)

Images

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Please recommend an image about love that you find insightful, from the wiki of your choice.











  • Caption: Two soldiers on patrol in the streets of Bujumbura, Burundi, nonchalantly express their affection for one another. It is not unusual in many societies throughout East Africa for men to display their friendship for one another by holding hands in public.
  • Suggested by: Pine (talk) 05:48, 7 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]
  • Why I recommend it: If anyone felt that there was too little love in Wikimedia, I hope that this gallery will change their minds!
  • +1: (sign here if you like it)












  • Caption: Tense attraction in a wasteland scene.
  • Suggested by: (talk)
  • Why I recommend it: The photographer (Kargaltsev) is well known for his photographs of gay life and love in New York, this tense shot is one in a hot homoerotic series with desolate, almost apocalyptic, backgrounds.
  • +1: (sign here if you like it)


  • Caption: A gay kiss in the park.
  • Suggested by: (talk)
  • Why I recommend it: This is a typical celebratory kiss during a gay pride event in Brazil, and is in use in several language Wikipedias to illustrate kissing and homosexuality.
  • +1: (sign here if you like it)


  • Caption: Kimbo kisses Carolyn.
  • Suggested by: (talk)
  • Why I recommend it: Another image used to illustrate homosexuality on different Wikipedias, a fun shot of a couple in the USA being themselves.
  • +1: (sign here if you like it)


  • Caption: The Jewish Bride
  • Suggested by: Jane023 (talk) 12:33, 8 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]
  • Why I recommend it: According to the latest findings by the Rembrandt Research Project, this is a marriage portrait of an Amsterdam couple in an allegorical pose as Isaac and Rebeccah being spied on by Abimelek (Genesis 26:8). It is known in art history circles as simply "The Jewish Bride", though the sitters could easily have been Protestant members of the Amsterdam regency. It is a major tourist attraction for the Rijksmuseum and one of the original paintings in the Van der Hoop bequest that formed the basis for the museum in 1854. Over time, thousands have speculated on the meaning of the hands. There is something incredibly romantic about the painting, which is echoed in the endless speculation about its sitters.
  • +1: (sign here if you like it)
  • +1 VGrigas (WMF) (talk) 19:20, 11 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]



  • Caption: Two young cheetah brothers cleaning each other after having fed. Okavango Delta, Botswana.
  • Suggested by: Jee (talk)
  • Why I recommend it: My favorite. (This image is especially inspirational: shows brotherhood, fraternal love, cooperation, mutual help.)
  • +1: (sign here if you like it)


  • Caption: Love's Messenger, c. 1885. Watercolor, tempera, and gold paint on paper mounted on wood. By Marie Spartali Stillman (1844-1927).
  • Suggested by: Smallbones (talk)
  • ”Love’s Messenger” is a wonderful painting I found and uploaded three years ago in February while working with a previously unknown colleague on a series of articles on Pre-Raphaelite paintings. She was absolutely wonderful in helping me work through the series. Actually, though I started the series with a couple of articles, it would be better to say that I helped her finish the series. Her knowledge of the topic is much greater than mine and her enthusiasm carried the series forward when my enthusiasm began to flag. Finding a colleague like this is the greatest pleasure that I have working on Wikipedia. We wrote the article ‘Love’s Messenger” in time for Valentine’s Day, and the article and the painting appeared on the main page in DYK on the 14th. I liked the painting so much that I looked for another article for it and found the perfect one, Love letter. Even though we still haven’t met, and there is no romantic love between us, this is my “love letter” to P., and to all my great colleagues on Wikipedia.
  • +1: (sign here if you like it)


  • Caption: Free hugs in Barcelona: Basque boys and Catalan girls.
  • Suggested by: --Pine 01:01, 9 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]
  • Why I recommend it: Free hugs and geopolitical harmony, all in one photo.
  • +1: (sign here if you like it)



  • Caption: Two sisters in Ethiopia
  • Suggested by: Michael Guss (WMF)
  • Why I recommend it: I really like this image.
  • +1: (sign here if you like it)


  • Caption: Scene depicting the birth of Venus.
  • Suggested by: Nadjim Brahami (Facebook)
  • Why I recommend it: Venus is the goddess of love.
  • +1: (sign here if you like it)


  • Caption: Dante and Beatrice walking by the water.
  • Suggested by: Stuart Green (Facebook)
  • Why I recommend it: Dante and Beatrice where lovers
  • +1: (sign here if you like it)


  • Caption: Imaginary portrat of the Marquis de Sade.
  • Suggested by: Holly Porter (Facebook)
  • Why I recommend it: Wrote The Crimes of Love
  • +1: (sign here if you like it)


  • Caption: The 3 properties of love and how it creates the 7 different loves according to theory
  • Suggested by: Smitha Bhat (Facebook)
  • Why I recommend it: It is the science of love
  • +1: (sign here if you like it)


  • Caption: Leda and the Swan
  • Suggested by: Arie Schwartz (Facebook)
  • Why I recommend it: Symbol of love
  • +1: (sign here if you like it)


  • Caption: Maternal Love
  • Suggested by: Samantha Cope Mutschler (Facebook)
  • Why I recommend it: A representation of motherly love
  • +1: (sign here if you like it)


  • Caption: Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, sometime between 1932 and 1934, when their exploits in Arkansas included murder, robbery, and kidnapping. Contrary to popular belief the two never married. They were in a long standing relationship. Posing in front of a 1932 Ford V-8 automobile.
  • Suggested by: Thokozani Thokz Mahlangu (Facebook)
  • Why I recommend it: Classic and curious love story
  • +1: (sign here if you like it)


  • Caption: A kiss
  • Suggested by: Abuhab Lorenzo (Google+)
  • Why I recommend it: Action of love
  • +1: (sign here if you like it)


  • Caption: Xochipilli
  • Suggested by: Kennedy Soileau (Google+)
  • Why I recommend it: Represents beauty
  • +1: (sign here if you like it)



Gustav Klimt 016


John William Waterhouse

  • Caption: La Belle Dame sans Merci by John William Waterhouse (1893)
  • Suggested by: Jake Phillips (Facebook)
  • Why I recommend it: Used as a representation for the Romance(love) English Wikipedia article.
  • +1: (sign here if you like it)


Gay Pride in Toulouse

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  • Caption: Hylas and the Nymphs , by John William Waterhouse - Manchester Art Gallery (England).
  • Suggested by: DenghiùComm
  • Why I recommend it: To be seduced is always pleasant and thrilling, even when you are aware that you are moving towards disaster. --DenghiùComm (talk) 12:06, 14 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]
  • +1: (sign here if you like it)
  • Caption: Psyche revived by the kiss of Love, by Antonio Canova (Louvre, Paris).
  • Suggested by: DenghiùComm
  • Why I recommend it: The passion associated with tenderness brings love to the sublime and approaches to God. --DenghiùComm (talk) 11:24, 14 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]
  • +1: (sign here if you like it)















  • Caption: Kiss of Death - Poblenou Cemetery, Barcelona (Spain).
  • Suggested by: DenghiùComm
  • Why I recommend it: We must not love the death, but let that the death take us away when she decides to deliver us from all our sufferings. --DenghiùComm (talk) 13:10, 14 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]
  • +1: (sign here if you like it)








Love in the war

[edit]
  • Caption: A little girl kisses an allied soldier after the liberation of the city of Naples (September 1943).
  • Suggested by: DenghiùComm
  • Why I recommend it: Who, in time of war, end our terror, our hunger, our need for peace and security, will remain in our memory, in our gratitude and in our love forever. --DenghiùComm (talk) 18:46, 7 August 2017 (UTC)[reply]
  • +1: (sign here if you like it)



Videos

[edit]

Please recommend a video about love that you find insightful, from the wiki of your choice.












  • Caption: Italian silent film by Mario Caserini, Eleuterio Rodolf (1913).
  • Suggested by: Geni (talk) 20:09, 7 February 2015
  • Why I recommend it: For those who require some level of volcanos in their love stories.
  • +1: (sign here if you like it)



Sounds

[edit]

Please recommend a sound or musical piece about love that you find insightful, from the wiki of your choice.











Sites

[edit]

Please recommend a wiki project, website or section about love that you find insightful.




  • Suggested by: Victor Grigas
  • Why I recommend it: Warm, cozy, loving embrace
  • +1: (sign here if you like it)



Quotes

[edit]

Please recommend a short quote or excerpt about love that you find insightful, from the wiki of your choice.


To-morrow is Saint Valentine's day,
All in the morning betime,
And I a maid at your window,
To be your Valentine.
Then up he rose, and donn'd his clothes,
And dupp'd the chamber-door;
Let in the maid, that out a maid
Never departed more.
—William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act IV, Scene 5


How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of everyday's
Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints,—I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life!—and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.
-Elizabeth Barrett Browning



"Love's Messenger is a wonderful painting I found and uploaded three years ago in February while working with a previously unknown colleague on a series of articles on Pre-Raphaelite paintings. She was absolutely wonderful in helping me work through the series. Actually, though I started the series with a couple of articles, it would be better to say that I helped her finish the series. Her knowledge of the topic is much greater than mine and her enthusiasm carried the series forward when my enthusiasm began to flag. Finding a colleague like this is the greatest pleasure that I have working on Wikipedia. We wrote the article ‘Love’s Messenger” in time for Valentine’s Day, and the article and the painting appeared on the main page in DYK on the 14th. I liked the painting so much that I looked for another article for it and found the perfect one, Love letter. Even though we still haven’t met, and there is no romantic love between us, this is my “love letter” to P., and to all my great colleagues on Wikipedia."


  • Suggested by: Nathan Joel Clairmont (Google+)
  • Why I recommend it: Wikipedia itself has a intense amount of love in it. Wikipedia is a labor of love, for the whole world, and all people. That is True Love. You have helped me put so many broken pieces back to together on so many things in the world, life, myself, to understand. Caring about people like I've never seen before. Just Grateful. I love Wikipedia and everyone involved. I appreciate you.
  • +1: (sign here if you like it)