Less than a month after climate activists tossed pink paint on a work by Pablo Picasso at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA), visitors can now view “The Hetaera” again. A Last Generation Canada post on Instagram shows activist “Marcel” claiming that the June 19 act of vandalism was “not attacking art” but rather “protecting it.” “Art, at its core, is depictions of life. It is by the living, for the living. There is no art on a dead planet,” reads the post. The protester was arrested for mischief and released on a promise to appear in court. The group also painted the Montreal Casino pink and removed advertisements from the gas industry in Ottawa in recent months. MMFA chief curator Mary-Dailey Desmarais said the museum was happy that the work was back in place, but upset that it happened in the first place. “I have to say, I just really think that we’re the wrong targets,” she said. “We are artists, museums are really allies in fighting for a better, more open world, and we certainly are trying, as an institution, to do our part to raise awareness about the environment, and we’ve taken many initiatives to do so.” The MMFA said that the 1901 painting is now back on display in the “Berthe Weill, Art Dealer of the Parisian Avant-garde” exhibition, which runs to Sept. 7. The museum said that the water-based paint Marcel threw hit a layer of glass that was protecting the painting, but that damage was done to the gilding on the frame, which required restoration. “We are thrilled that The Hetaera is now back on display," said Desmarais. “The frame, an important object in its own right, sustained damage, and we are grateful to the expert teams who repaired it and ensured the painting’s safe return to our galleries. Art, artists and museums are powerful vectors of social change and important allies in shaping a better world. They need our protection too.” She added that curation is a scientific endeavour and that many questions are asked when repairing damage. “There is always a philosophical or ethical debate that one is dealing with as a conservator, which is, how much does one intervene to repair damage, and how much does that reparation sacrifice the original intention of the work of art,” she said The Hetaera was painted during Picasso’s second trip to Paris and is part of his youthful period, later dubbed his “blue period.” The museum said it has introduced new security measures in response to acts of vandalism in recent years, primarily from climate activists. All backpacks and bags must be checked, and MMFA agents now inspect small bags and handbags. Though the work was restored and rehung, Desmarais said that despite the relatively minimal damage to the painting itself, there was real impact from the vandalism. She said “immense amounts of staff and resources” were needed to take care of the work, and that visitors were deprived of seeing it. “There’s a respect of our relationship with the lenders,” she said. “There is what is experienced as the violence of this kind of act for our staff internally who deal with it... Even when the painting itself is not damaged, there are other kinds of unseen damage that happen with this kind of event.”
