Controversial Miriam Cahn Painting Vandalized At Paris’ Palais De Tokyo Museum

A vandal spray painted a controversial painting by Swiss artist Miriam Cahn that was being exhibited at the Palais de Tokyo contemporary art museum in Paris.

The painting, whose title includes a crude word for sex, depicts a person with their hands bound and being forced to perform a sex act on a man. The work had already touched off controversy because some critics believed that the victim in the painting is a child.

The work is part of a larger exhibition of Cahn’s work called Ma Pensée Sérielle (My Serial Thought). The exhibition is the first major retrospective of Cahn’s work by a French institution and includes more than 200 pieces from 1980 to today.

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In an announcement about the show, the curators cited her ability to use the human body to raise questions about the nature of existence, and that nudity often symbolizes the vulnerability of people.

“Miriam Cahn imagines new material incarnations of that which disturbs us, confronting us with that which we would prefer to ignore: here it looks us straight in the eye, in a bodily confrontation from which we cannot escape,” the exhibit announcement reads.

Still, the specific painting in question generated accusations that the work was not just offensive, but illegal child pornography because it represented underage sex. Opponents filed a complaint with France’s highest administrative court, the Conseil d’Etat, to request that the work be removed.

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In April, the Conseil d’Etat rejected that argument and said that the gallery had presented sufficient context around the work. The court noted in its ruling that the work was hanging in an art gallery and “accompanied by detailed contextual information, (it) does not seriously or clearly unlawfully harm the best interests of the child or the dignity of the human person.”

Minister of Culture Rima Abdul Malak had previously defended the painting during a session of the National Assembly.

“Art can shock,” she said. “You have to consider a work in its context and its context is the war crime here.”

Cahn has resisted the child pornography label, explaining that the painting represents the use of rape as a weapon of war.

“They are not children,” Cahn said in a statement issued by the museum in March. “This painting deals with the way in which sexuality is used as a weapon of war, as a crime against humanity.”

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Still, those arguments and the court ruling clearly didn’t put an end to all criticism.

According to the AFP, on May 7, an elderly man approached the painting and sprayed it with purple paint.

Museum officials told AFP that the man was “unhappy with the sexual portrayal of a child and an adult presented in the painting” but did not appear to have any links to any activist groups.

The man’s name was not released, but security guards detained him and museum officials said they would file a complaint for property damage and obstructing freedom of expression.

“We regret the extreme consequences of this controversy,” said Guillaume Desanges, president of the Palais de Tokyo, in a statement. “In agreement with the artist, the Palais de Tokyo will continue to present the painting and the exposition, with traces of the damage until the end of the season, May 14th.”

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