16-07-2025
Picasso painting back on display in Montreal after being splashed with pink paint
Pablo Picasso's "the Hetaera" (1901) is back on display at the MMFA after a vandal threw pink paint on it. (Picasso Estate/CARCC Ottawa 2025)
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.
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 Marcus 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 MMFA curator Mary-Dailey 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.'
The Hetaera was painted during Picasso's second trip to Paris and is part of his youthful period, later dubbed his 'blue period.'
The Hetaera
Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), The Hetaera, 1901. Pinacoteca Agnelli, Turin. (Picasso Estate / CARCC Ottawa 2025)
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.
