Artistic expression using religious iconography is often controversial.
Since the early days of the modern-art movement, controversy and art have gone hand in hand. This is particularly true in Europe, where radical forms of artistic expression, such as cubism and dada, re-examined the meaning of what exactly constitutes art. In recent years, there have been a number of art-related controversies in Europe in which certain pieces pushed the boundaries of artistic expression beyond the limits deemed acceptable by certain factions of the public.
Piss Christ
One of the more controversial pieces of artwork in recent years is New York artist Andres Serrano's "Piss Christ," a 1987 photo of a plastic crucifix submerged in a clear drinking glass filled with the artist's urine. Described by Serrano as his criticism of the "billion-dollar Christ-for-profit industry," the photograph has been widely exhibited throughout Europe. In fact, "Piss Christ" had been exhibited several times in France without incident until April 2011, when a fundamentalist French religious group destroyed the photograph. At the time, it was displayed in a gallery in the French town of Avignon when protesters entered, smashed its plastic "glass" screen and slashed the photo with a sharp object.
Virgin of the Third Reich
Italian artist Giuseppe Veneziano's 2010 show titled "The Zeitgeist" resulted in controversy when it opened in Pietrasanta, Italy. Featuring paintings of Jesus Christ, Spider-Man and Pope Benedict XVI, Veneziano admitted his intent was to provoke. He fulfilled his intention with one particular piece, "Virgin of the Third Reich," which depicted the Virgin Mary cuddling infant Adolph Hitler. Local resident Stefano D'Atri demanded that the town's mayor cancel the exhibit, claiming that the painting is offensive to people who lived during the "terrible period of Nazism." The mayor subsequently pulled the piece from the exhibit.
Nazi Sexy Mouse
In 2010, an art gallery in Poznan, Poland, sparked outrage when promoting an art exhibit with a two-story poster depicting a naked female with the head of Disney's Mickey Mouse posed in front of a giant Nazi swastika. The poster was hung on the side of the building housing the gallery. Outraged citizens ripped a large hole in the poster, causing the gallery to put up a new one. Although gallery curator Maria Czarnecka defended the poster as using Nazi iconography in "academic and artistic contexts," town councilor Norbert Napieraj noted that the swastika "symbolizes the suffering and death of more than 6 million Poles."
Pop Art at Versailles
Visitors to the palace at Versailles in France were taken aback in 2010 when they encountered a pair of massive comic-book-inspired sculptures situated in the palace's renowned Hall of Mirrors. The sculptures, giant cartoon globules painted in bright colors, were part of an exhibition at Versailles by Japanese artist Takashi Murakami, which included more than a dozen similar sculptures placed throughout the former royal residence. Many visitors to the site, however, felt the juxtaposition of comic-book imagery with Versailles' opulent surroundings and 18th-century artwork was "inappropriate" and diminished the experience of visiting the historic site. The president of Chateau de Versailles, Jean-Jacques Aillagon, defended the art, insisting it was his duty to open the palace to the "artistic creation of our times."
