6 Iconic Photos That Fooled The Whole World

The Kiss by the Hôtel de Ville — Robert Doisneau (1950)

A couple kissing in the middle of a Paris street. It became the definitive image of spontaneous post-war romance. Then in 1992, Doisneau admitted it was staged. He’d hired two actors—Françoise Delbart and Jacques Carteaud—and photographed them in several poses. A couple later sued him, claiming they were the real couple in the photo. Doisneau won the case, but only by producing the original negatives showing the actors. The romance was real. It just wasn’t spontaneous.