Two women in France have been charged for spraying the words “MeToo” on five artworks, including a renowned 19th-century ‘Origin of the World’ painting depicting a woman’s vulva, according to a prosecutor.
The women, born in 1986 and 1993, were apprehended on Monday afternoon after defacing “The Origin of the World,” a nude painting by French artist Gustave Courbet. The 1866 artwork, displayed at the Centre Pompidou-Metz, was shielded by a glass pane, according to the museum in the northeastern city of Metz.
French-Luxembourgish performance artist Deborah de Robertis informed AFP that she had arranged for the red spray painting of the nude and another artwork, performed by two other individuals, as part of a performance titled: “You Don’t Separate the Woman from the Artist.”
Metz prosecutor Yves Badorc stated that five works were vandalised with the words “MeToo,” and one was stolen. The two women were charged with degrading and stealing cultural property, he confirmed.
In a video provided to AFP by de Robertis, one woman is seen tagging Courbet’s famous painting with red paint while another sprays another artwork. They then chant “MeToo” before being escorted away by security guards.
In an open letter, de Robertis condemned the actions of six men in the art world, labelling them as “predators” and “censors.” She claimed that they also confiscated an embroidery work by French artist Annette Messager as “reappropriation.”
The prosecutor mentioned that a third person, who was not apprehended, might have been responsible for stealing the 1991 work titled “I Think Therefore I Suck.” De Robertis alleged that the work belonged to an art critic and recounted her own experience with him.
De Robertis, whose previous work was displayed at the venue in Metz, including a photograph of a 2014 performance at the Musee d’Orsay where she posed showing her vulva underneath Courbet’s painting, emphasised that “The Origin of the World” is on loan from the Musee d’Orsay.
In 2020, a French court fined de Robertis 2,000 euros ($2,150) for appearing naked in 2018 in front of a cave in Lourdes, a Catholic pilgrimage site. Another case against her was dismissed in 2017 after she displayed her vulva in front of Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa at the Louvre museum.