An intimate relationship is an interpersonal relationship that involves emotional or physical closeness between people and may include sexual intimacy and feelings of romance or love. Intimate relationships are interdependent, and the members of the relationship mutually influence each other. The quality and nature of the relationship depends on the interactions between individuals, and is derived from the unique context and history that builds between people over time. Social and legal institutions such as marriage acknowledge and uphold intimate relationships between people. However, intimate relationships are not necessarily monogamous or sexual, and there is wide social and cultural variability in the norms and practices of intimacy between people.
Intimate relationships involve emotional or physical closeness.
Marriage is a form of relationship maintenance that signals commitment between partners.
Intimate relationships impact well-being.
Romance or romantic love is a feeling of love for, or a strong attraction towards another person, and the courtship behaviors undertaken by an individual to express those overall feelings and resultant emotions.
An 1870 oil painting by Ford Madox Brown of Romeo and Juliet, considered to be the archetypal romantic couple, depicting the play's iconic balcony scene
Bernger von Horheim in the Codex Manesse (early 14th century)
La Belle Dame sans Merci 1893, by John William Waterhouse
Roman copy of a Greek sculpture by Lysippus depicting Eros, the Greek personification of romantic love
