The painting, titled fuck abstraction !, appears in a Cahn show set to finish its controversial run on May 14. Cahn and the museum had made clear that the work was a response to human rights abuses in Ukraine, but conservative politicians and children’s rights groups had claimed it promoted pedophilia.

In the work, Cahn represents a smaller figure whose hands are bound performing a sex act on a taller one. She said she had painted it after seeing reports of mass graves in Bucha and rapes by Russian soldiers in 2022. Certain politicians and organizations attempted to sue for its removal, though the French Council of State found that the painting could be exhibited on the basis that it did not represent pedophilia and that it qualified as freedom of expression.

According to the Agence France-Presse, on Sunday afternoon, a visitor that the Palais de Tokyo described as an “elderly person” sprayed purple paint on fuck abstraction ! The man was “unhappy with the sexual staging of a child and an adult represented, according to him,” the museum told AFP.

Following the vandalism, two rooms of the exhibition were closed off to the public.

Rima Abdul Malak, France’s culture minister, told Franceinfo, “It’s a direct attack on freedom of expression, which is quite serious.”

Franceinfo, which first reported the news, published a picture of what appeared to be fuck abstraction ! in its vandalized state. The painting seems to have been splashed with purple that now runs down portions of it. According to the publication, the man who vandalized the work had hidden the paint in a medicine bottle.

Guillaume Désanges, president of the Palais de Tokyo, told AFP that fuck abstraction ! would remain on view through the end of the show’s run in agreement with the artist. So far, 80,000 people have seen the exhibition.

On Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron even weighed in on the situation, tweeting, “To attack a work is to attack our values. In France, art is always free and respect for cultural creation is guaranteed.”

Update, 5/8/23, 9:45 a.m.: A statement from Emmanuel Macron has been added to this article.

The council’s ruling affirmed a prior decision that a lower court had made in March. The legal matter continued, however, after several children’s rights groups appealed it, forcing a higher court to look once more at the case.

Cahn’s painting, titled fuck abstraction !, appears in her current survey at the Palais de Tokyo, one of the largest solo presentations of her work to date. Her paintings are widely known in the European art scene, with her work memorably appearing in last year’s Venice Biennale.

In the painting, a small figure whose hands are bound is shown kneeling and fellating a larger, more muscular person. Cahn stated that she painted the work in response to atrocities being committed in Ukraine. Specifically, she was reacting to news reports on mass graves in Bucha, as well as the rapes of women and children by Russian soldiers.

“The repetition of violence during wars is not intended to shock but to denounce,” Cahn said.

The French Council of State said in its decision that the work was clearly contextualized, both by materials that the Palais de Tokyo had released alongside it and by other works in the show that also dealt with human rights violations in Ukraine.

“Under these conditions, the judge in chambers considers that the hanging of this painting, in a place dedicated to contemporary creation and known as such, and accompanied by a detailed contextualization, does not cause serious and manifestly illegal harm the best interests of children or the dignity of human persons,” the council wrote.

In March, certain organizations had lobbied a lower court to have the painting removed from the show. The lower court denied to do so for similar reasons to the ones cited by the Council of State. Sylvie Vidal, the judge behind the case, stated, “The painting is not child pornography. The fundamental freedoms at stake are freedom of expression and freedom of creation.”

Even after that decision, however, many continued to decry the work. A director of Forum of Democracy, a right-wing party in the Netherlands, claimed in a video making the rounds on Twitter that the work was an example of “the banalization of pedophilia.”

With the outcry continuing to grow, some of the top museum directors in France signed an open letter published in Le Monde last week in which they apologized for having remained silent on the matter for so long. They stated that the polemic had confused activism with censorship—and said this was a dangerous, slippery slope that had potential impact beyond France. They brought up the recent controversy over Michelangelo’s David, waged at a Florida charter school, as an example.

“Our responsibility is not to censor or allow censorship, but to fight to offer a space of freedom, of questioning, so that art can always find places where it can flourish without fear,” the directors wrote. “Even more than censorship, we must fear self-censorship. Museums must be havens of emancipation and intelligence in a time of polarization of opinions and media lynchings. If we let the fear of controversy and attacks take over the interest of the works or projects that are offered to us, then we would renounce the principle on which our open societies are based.”

Among the signatories were Laurent Le Bon, president of the Centre Pompidou; Chris Dercon, head of the Grand Palais; and Christophe Leribault, the leader of the Musée d’Orsay and the Musée de l’Orangerie.

In a statement on Friday, the Palais de Tokyo addressed the Council of State’s decision, saying that it “regrets that the affair gave place to the instrumentalization of a work of art.” The museum noted that 70,000 people had seen the Cahn exhibition, which runs through May 14.

The work, titled fuck abstraction !, is a new painting produced by the Swiss artist Miriam Cahn, who is currently the subject of one of the biggest shows of her career at the museum. The painting features a muscular figure being fellated by a smaller one whose hands are bound.

A statement from Cahn that is included in the show notes that the work is meant as a commentary on humans rights crimes being enacted by Russians in Ukraine. She further stated that she had painted the work after seeing images of mass graves in Bucha, as well as reports of rapes of women and children in Ukraine.

Of the painting, Cahn has said, “this is a person whose hands are tied, raped before being killed and thrown into the street. The repetition of violence during wars is not intended to shock but to denounce.”

But many conservatives in France chose to view the painting otherwise, claiming that the smaller figure is a minor and that, in showing the painting, Cahn and the Palais de Tokyo are encouraging the exploitation of children. As a result, the painting has gone viral on social media, where posts decrying the work have racked up thousands of likes.

In one popular tweet, Caroline Parmentier, a politician who supported the ultra-conservative Marine Le Pen, wrote, “In the name of child protection, as a member of the Delegation for Children’s Rights, I ask the Minister of Culture that it be taken down.”

The furor surrounding fuck abstraction ! has grown so loud that even Rima Abdul Malak, the French cultural minister, has spoken out to defend it on the basis of freedom of expression.

Six children’s rights organizations subsequently lobbied a French court to have the Palais de Tokyo remove the painting from Cahn’s show. The case was heard on Monday, and no less than 24 hours later, the court decided in favor of the Palais de Tokyo and Cahn, ruling that the painting could remain on view.

“This work cannot be understood outside of its context and the work of the artist Miriam Cahn, which aims to denounce the horrors of war, as recalled in the presentation document of the event distributed to the public,” wrote the judge Sylvie Vidal, according to Libération.

Vidal also more bluntly spoke out against the claims that the painting sexualized children: “The painting is not child pornography. The fundamental freedoms at stake are freedom of expression and freedom of creation.”

The court also said that the Palais de Tokyo had done enough to prepare viewers for Cahn’s shocking art by providing warning texts.

Cahn’s work has frequently relied upon provocation to respond to conflicts around the world, antisemitism, racism, and other forms of prejudice. Sexual violence recurs in her work, often as a commentary on the horrors enacted upon women by men, and similar works have recently been seen in retrospectives across Europe and in editions of two of the world’s biggest art festivals, the Venice Biennale and Documenta.

Following the court’s decision, the Palais de Tokyo said it planned to keep fuck abstraction ! on view through the end of the show’s run in May. So far, according to the museum, 45,000 people have seen the show.

“The Palais de Tokyo regrets the instrumentalization of this work of art and the contempt for the fundamental role of museums around the world in the respect of human rights,” the museum said in a statement. “This painting was shown in context, distributed widely without authorization from either the artist or the Palais de Tokyo, in an erroneous and slanted manner, with thousands of internet users.”

The work, titled fuck abstraction !, was one of 200 on view in Cahn’s current exhibition at Paris’s Palais de Tokyo, one of her biggest shows to date. The survey followed her appearance in the Venice Biennale last summer.

Cahn’s work has regularly offered images of violence that provoke discomfort in viewers, with past paintings graphically depicting rapes that act as feminist critiques of the patriarchy and misuses of power. She has also centered wars in Bosnia, the Gulf, and elsewhere, often focusing her attention on people who are violated by those conflicts’ perpetrators.

Yet fuck abstraction !, which was intended as a protest against human rights crimes against the people of Ukraine, provoked controversy over something it did not actually portray.

The painting shows a muscular figure with an erect penis being fellated by a kneeling nude figure who is smaller and who has their hands bound. The muscular figure holds another person’s head using a free hand.

Within the Palais de Tokyo show, there is a text underlining that this work is about the war in Ukraine. “The painting fuck abstraction ! was made during the war in Ukraine and after that, images of the mass grave in Bucha have been broadcast as well as images of the rapes of numerous women and men,” the text reads, adding, “Miriam Cahn reacts on the spot to these images that circulate on social media and make a world tour.”

The text quotes Cahn herself as saying, “this is a person whose hands are tied, raped before being killed and thrown into the street. The repetition of violence during wars is not intended to shock but to denounce.”

Over the weekend, the French talk show host Karl Zéro, who has previously tweeted about what he calls “pedocrime,” posted a picture of the work to Twitter, calling it “intolerable.” In a follow-up tweet, Zéro wrote, “School groups visit this exhibition. Imagine the children’s questions when faced with this painting.”

Zéro’s original tweet has been liked nearly 11,000 times since it was first posted on March 5.

The Zéro tweet continued to circulate, with Laurent Ozon, a former adviser to the far-right politician Marine Le Pen, picking it up. “This trash,” he wrote.

These tweets and almost all others decrying the work did not mention the statement about the piece that appears on the gallery’s walls.

On Tuesday, the Palais de Tokyo responded directly to these claims, reiterating that the work is a response to real horrors taking place abroad and that it does not depict a pedophiliac act. The museum and its leaders said they “deplore” the circulation of fuck abstraction ! without sufficient context, calling the various posts about the painting “reactions of incomprehension.”

In a statement included within that release, Cahn said, “These are not children. This painting deals with how sexuality is used as a weapon in war, as a crime against humanity. The contrast between the two bodies shows the bodily power of the oppressor and the underdog, kneeling and oppressed, during war.”

The Palais de Tokyo encouraged viewers to consider how Cahn had previously used her work to empathize with victims of various conflicts.

“I no longer want to be represented in ‘this’ art museum in Zurich,” the septuagenarian Jewish artist wrote.”I wish to remove all my works from the Zurich Art Museum. I will buy them back at the original sale price.”

Many of the works that Bührle acquired while the Germans occupied Paris were later returned to their rightful owners once judges decreed they were looted, yet the collection still remains tainted to many. Nevertheless, in 2012 Kunsthaus Zurich made plans to acquire the Bührle Collection, which included many valuable works of Impressionist art, through a loan agreement with the Bührle Foundation. The Foundation initially began to seek out an institution to host the works in 2008, following the theft of four works by Cézanne, Degas, van Gogh, and Monet in the collection, which resided in a villa in Zurich, reported the New York Times.

At the time of the initial loan agreement, the museum faced no pushback. It wasn’t until 2016, when the museum began to build a new wing for the collection, that a series of protests were ignited. Cahn’s recent announcement followed the completion of the expansion project, and the seemingly definitive decision to display the collection despite numerous protests. Kunsthaus Zurich did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

A feminist figurative artist, Cahn’s paintings are held in collections all over the world, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Tate in London, and the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, among others. This is not the first time Cahn has withdrawn works in protest. In 1982, Cahn pulled her paintings from Documenta 7 because she felt she had been mistreated by Documenta’s artistic director at the time, Rudi Fuchs.

Miriam Cahn, o.t., 14.12.2017, 2017, watercolor on paper.

STEFAN JESKE/©MIRIAM CAHN/COURTESY THE ARTIST AND MEYER RIEGGER, BERLIN AND KARLSRUHE

Pictures at an Exhibition presents images of one notable show every weekday.

Today’s show: “Miriam Cahn: ICH ALS MENSCH” is on view at the Kunstmuseum Bern in Switzerland through Sunday, June 16. The solo exhibition, the title of which translates to “I As Human,” includes works on paper, oil paintings, sculptures, videos, and her sketchbooks, which have never been exhibited publicly before. The survey is one of five dedicated to the artist, who was included in Documenta 14.

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Installation view of "Miriam Cahn: ME AS HUMAN," 2019, at Kunstmuseum Bern.

COURTESY KUNSTMUSEUM BERN

Installation view of "Miriam Cahn: ME AS HUMAN," 2019, at Kunstmuseum Bern.

COURTESY KUNSTMUSEUM BERN

Installation view of "Miriam Cahn: ME AS HUMAN," 2019, at Kunstmuseum Bern.

COURTESY KUNSTMUSEUM BERN

Installation view of "Miriam Cahn: ME AS HUMAN," 2019, at Kunstmuseum Bern.

COURTESY KUNSTMUSEUM BERN

Installation view of "Miriam Cahn: ME AS HUMAN," 2019, at Kunstmuseum Bern.

COURTESY KUNSTMUSEUM BERN

Installation view of "Miriam Cahn: ME AS HUMAN," 2019, at Kunstmuseum Bern.

COURTESY KUNSTMUSEUM BERN

Installation view of "Miriam Cahn: ME AS HUMAN," 2019, at Kunstmuseum Bern.

COURTESY KUNSTMUSEUM BERN

Installation view of "Miriam Cahn: ME AS HUMAN," 2019, at Kunstmuseum Bern.

COURTESY KUNSTMUSEUM BERN

Installation view of "Miriam Cahn: ME AS HUMAN," 2019, at Kunstmuseum Bern.

COURTESY KUNSTMUSEUM BERN

Installation view of "Miriam Cahn: ME AS HUMAN," 2019, at Kunstmuseum Bern.

COURTESY KUNSTMUSEUM BERN

Miriam Cahn, o.t., 14.12.2017, 2017, watercolor on paper.

STEFAN JESKE/©MIRIAM CAHN/COURTESY THE ARTIST AND MEYER RIEGGER, BERLIN AND KARLSRUHE

Miriam Cahn, o.t., 18.04.2017, 2017, watercolor on paper.

STEFAN JESKE/©MIRIAM CAHN/PRIVATE COLLECTION

Miriam Cahn, am strand, 14.12.2016, 2016, pastel on paper.

STEFAN JESKE/©MIRIAM CAHN/PRIVATE COLLECTION

Miriam Cahn, liebenmüssen, 30.05.2017, 2017, pastel on paper.

STEFAN JESKE/©MIRIAM CAHN/PRIVATE COLLECTION

Miriam Cahn, meine rechte ist meine linke, 22.08.2017, 2017, oil on wood.

STEFAN JESKE/©MIRIAM CAHN/PRIVATE COLLECTION

Miriam Cahn, meredith grey (gestern im TV gesehen), 15.7.15, 2015, oil on wood.

MARKUS TRETTER/©MIRIAM CAHN/COURTESY THE ARTIST, MEYER RIEGGER, BERLIN AND KARLSRUHE, AND GALERIE JOCELYN WOLFF, PARIS