President Emmanuel Macron has condemned the attack on a painting exhibited at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris on May 7. According The world, a spray painted man To hell with abstraction! by Swiss artist Miriam Cahn, a work that sparked a lively debate in France on the limits of artistic freedom. Cahn’s work shows a small figure, whose hands are tied, performing a sexual act on a larger faceless individual.
Macron said on Twitter: “On May 8, as we celebrate the victory of freedom [Victory Day], I condemn the act of vandalism committed yesterday at the Palais de Tokyo. To attack a work is to attack our values. In France, art is always free and respect for cultural creation is assured. Rima Abdul Malak, French Minister of Culture, said France info: “This is a direct attack on freedom of expression, which is quite serious.”
The work is the subject of a retrospective devoted to Cahn, My Serial Thought, which opened in February; a spokesperson for the Palais de Tokyo confirmed that the controversial defaced painting will remain on display until the exhibition closes on May 14. More than 80,000 visitors have already attended the show.
In March, a French court dismissed a lawsuit brought against the Palais de Tokyo by a group of organizations led by the Association Juristes de l’Enfance. They alleged that the painting encouraged paedophilia, pointing out that the smallest figure in the work was a child.
The judge, Sylvie Vidal, ruled that Cahn’s work referred to crimes committed in Bucha, Ukraine during the Russian invasion. Cahn added in a statement, “This painting is about how sexuality is used as a weapon of war, as a crime against humanity.” The group of plaintiffs then appealed the decision to France’s Council of State, the country’s highest administrative court, but that too was rejected a month later.
The Palais de Tokyo indicates in a press release that the two judgments stipulated that “the sole intention of the artist is to denounce a crime and that the Palais de Tokyo has [outlined] precautions for unaccompanied minors… [institution] also provides elements of context before seeing the work. Guillaume Désanges, the president of the Palais de Tokyo, said in a press release: “We regret the extreme consequences of this controversy. [debate] which was harmful for the artist and the public.
