Take a trip-up to Paris ’s Musée Picasso right now and you ’ll get to see “ Picasso à l’image , ” an exposition featuring photos , docudrama footage , and more ocular artifacts that “ show [ Pablo Picasso ] in motion , revealing unlike facet of his life and work . ”
Next to one floor - to - ceiling picture of a youngPicassoin his studio is a respectable surface area of clean white wall place where one royal blue jacket hangs from a hook . Inside its pocket are mailing-card depict Picasso ’s works , which artist Oriol Vilanova found at flea market and museum gift shop . It ’s part of Vilanova ’s series “ Old Masters , ” and visitors are meant to interact with it — peruse the postcards and even removing the crownwork from its hook .
In fact , Vilanova was so attached to encouraging interactivity that he ’d twist down an offer from the museum to secure the jacket to the wall . “ This selection was not chosen by the artist because the populace could not have manipulated the employment well , ” a museum voice toldArtnet News . “ He wanted hoi polloi to be able to treat not just the post card , but the crown too . ”
But when a sure 72 - year - old woman explored the expo in March , she reportedly did n’t realise the jacket was anything other than someone ’s actual jacket — and she fancied it for herself . So she took it off the hook , brought it home , and had a seamster shorten it by nearly a foot to fit her substantially .
According toThe Times , the crime was caught on CCTV , and investigators were hunting for further clew in the museum when their culprit appeared in the build : She was back for another visit , bare days by and by . While she quickly owned up to pinch the item , she maintained that she had n’t known it was part of an art installation . Prosecutors issued a warning and decided not to pursue any case against her .
She ’s by all odds not the first person to accidentallyruin a piece of artistry , and she probably wo n’t be the last . As for whether the jacket is still innocent to absent from its hook , that remains unclear .
[ h / tArtnet News ]
