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In a controversial incident that has shocked the art world, two women were arrested on Monday for defacing a 19th-century painting by Gustave Courbet with the words "MeToo". The painting, known as "The Origin of the World", depicts a woman's vagina and was on display at the Centre Pompidou in Metz as part of a larger exhibition focused on the French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan. The artwork had been on loan from the Musee d'Orsay in Paris.
The two women, born in 1986 and 1993, were apprehended by police after they were caught spraying the words "MeToo" on five works in total, including Courbet's nude. The women were part of a performance art group led by French-Luxembourgish performance artist Deborah de Robertis. According to de Robertis, the spray painting was part of a broader performance titled "You Don't Separate the Woman from the Artist".
Metz prosecutor Yves Badorc confirmed that the two women had been arrested and charged with vandalism. A third person, who is believed to have stolen another artwork, has not been apprehended. The stolen piece, titled "I Think Therefore I Suck", is a red embroidery on white material created by French artist Annette Messager.
De Robertis defended the group's actions, claiming that the embroidery work had been taken as "reappropriation". She also revealed that another work by Austrian artist Valie Export had been targeted in the incident. De Robertis had previously displayed work at the venue, including a photograph of a 2014 performance at the Musee d'Orsay in which she posed showing her vagina underneath Courbet's painting.
The incident has sparked outrage in the art community, with many condemning the act as an attack on culture. French Culture Minister Rachida Dati wrote on social media that "An artwork is not a poster to colour in with the day's message." Meanwhile, Metz Mayor Francois Grosdidier described the incident as "a new attack on culture, this time by fanatic feminists".
"The Origin of the World" has a fascinating history. It was first owned by a Turkish-Egyptian diplomat called Khalil Bey, a flamboyant figure in 1860s Paris who put together an art collection celebrating the female body before he was ruined by his gambling debts. The painting then passed to Lacan before it entered the Musee d'Orsay's collection in 1995.
De Robertis has a history of controversial performances. In 2018, she was fined 2,000 euros for appearing naked in front of a cave in Lourdes, a Catholic pilgrimage site, and in 2017, she was briefly detained after showing her vagina in front of Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa at the Louvre.
