Drunk revelers broke into the Musee D'Orsay in Paris on Saturday night, reports the AFP, and slashed Monet's 1874 Le pont d'Argenteuil. (Here's a picture of the damaged painting.) The cut reportedly can be repaired.French culture minister Christine Albanel called the attack on "our memory, our heritage." She also said, "It would be good a thing to increase the sanctions for (people who vandalize) a church, a museum, a monument, because they are attacking our history."
Well, why is their heritage vulnerable to a few sloppy teenagers, who tripped the alarm on their way in but had plenty of time to stumble about and slash the painting on their way out? They remain on the loose.
As much of the coverage has pointed out, this kind of thing seems to happen all the time in France: There was the Cy Twombly lipstick incident. The Duchamp hammer fiasco.
This Monet slashing seems like an attack not so much on France's memory and heritage as on the country's enduringly lousy security system.
Reader Comments ( Page 1 of 1)
1. "Lousy security system?" No kidding! If drunk people can break into a museum, God knows what sober skilled crooks can do.
David S. at 2:21PM on Oct 8th 2007
2. Destruction to any work of art should be tantamount to Assault and Battery, if a weapon used, add w/ a deadly weapon, of course, destruction of property and a Hate Crime.
DuChamp, the Father of DaDaism, these kids so suck.
rhodalee at 2:37PM on Oct 8th 2007
3. "DuChamp the Father of DaDaism".
see, we would be impressed with your vast historical knowledge of art history....except...
i don't think people realize that duchamp really kind of hated art, his whole point was that you can take something you piss in and get it into a gallery. that's what he thought of it. it was a joke. the art movement that people herald him for was invented by the people too dumb to understand it.
that's what your tax money pays for. random facts i can use to put people down on aol blogs. stay in school.
hannah at 4:32PM on Oct 8th 2007
4. Too heck with this, if you want to read a really great and exciting book about a young marine's adventures in South Vietnam then read. "Arc Light" by G.V. Short. It not only pertains to what we are experiencing in Iraq, but also all around the world. Describing the Military/industrial/mafia/ media complex at its worst, it's full of gory combat, sex, drugs, and rock & roll.
gshort3011 at 4:27PM on Oct 8th 2007
5. It is true security in art museums and galleries can seem minimal, but one problem is how do you make security tighter and have people still able to appreciate the works? As an artist myself, I like to be able to look closely at individual brushstrokes, for example, but if I am getting very close, how does security know I will not harm the painting? It is sad.
KMS at 8:04PM on Oct 8th 2007
6. I think there is a difference betweeen hating art and hating the art establishment and the way people are conditioned to think about art and artistic activities.
KMS at 8:16PM on Oct 8th 2007