Fake Picassos Create Legal Trouble for Australian Museum

Fake Picassos Create Legal Trouble for Australian Museum

An art gallery in the Australian state of Tasmania presented three paintings as if they were works by the famed painter, Pablo Picasso. At first, the museum limited viewers to women. When that brought legal action against the museum, they moved the paintings to a women’s bathroom.

Now it is clear people were reacting strongly to artworks that were not really by Picasso. Nor were other paintings said to be by other famed artists. The truth came out last week when the curator of the women-only show admitted she had painted them herself. The admission came after a reporter and the Picasso Administration in France questioned her about the paintings.

An unusual museum

The show’s curator is Kirsha Kaechele. She admitted last week that she had painted the works. She wrote a blog post on the website of Tasmania's Museum of Old and New Art (MONA). The museum is known in Australia for its strange exhibitions and events.

The story began in 2020, when Kaechele created a women-only area, called the “Ladies Lounge,” for visitors to enjoy being only with women.

The so-called Ladies Lounge offered high tea, massages and champagne served by men. It was open to anyone who identified as a woman.

The lounge was supposed to display "the most important artworks in the world," Kaechele wrote, in order for men "to feel as excluded as possible."

Legal action

But in March, the Tasmanian Civil and Administrative Tribunal ordered MONA to stop denying men the right to enter the Ladies Lounge. The order came after a male visitor became angry that he could not enter the space in 2023.

Tribunal Deputy President Richard Grueber wrote in his decision that he found the exhibition to be discriminatory. He ruled that the man had suffered a disadvantage, in part because the artworks in the Ladies Lounge were so valuable.

Kaechele described the artworks to the tribunal as "a carefully curated selection of paintings by the world's leading artists, including two paintings that spectacularly demonstrate Picasso's genius."

Adding a toilet

Rather than admit men to the exhibit, Kaechele added a working toilet to the space, turning it into a women's bathroom. This gave the gallery a legal reason to deny entry to men.

International news organizations reported on the change to the exhibit earlier this year. They did not question that a gallery would hang Picasso paintings in a public bathroom.

However, the Guardian news agency reported last week that it asked Kaechele about the work. That led to her admission about making the paintings herself.

I’m Jill Robbins.

Charlotte Graham-McLay reported on this story for the Associated Press. Jill Robbins adapted it for Learning English.

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Words in This Story

gallery – n. a room or building in which people look at paintings

bathroom – n. a room in a public place with a toilet and sink

curator – n. a person who is in charge of the things in a museum, zoo, or the like

exhibition – n. an event at which objects (such as works of art) are put out in a public space for people to look at

lounge – n. a comfortable room for relaxing in a public building

massage – n. the action of rubbing or pressing someone's body in a way that helps muscles to relax or reduces pain in muscles and joints

tribunal – n. a kind of court that has authority in a specific area

disadvantage – n. loss, damage, or harm

spectacular – adj. causing wonder and admiration; very impressive

toilet — n. a large bowl attached to a pipe that is used for getting rid of bodily waste

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