Pierre Auguste Renoir Under Fire As Protesters Take To The Streets

The French Impressionist painter  Pierre Auguste Renoir came under fire from protesters this week at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. The activists took to the streets to disrupt the reputation of one of the worlds favourite artists. From what I gather, the demonstrators had enough of Renoir’s chocolate box imagery and decided to make their views seen, to an international audience of art lovers. The media were quick to pick up on the protesters and the story spread virally through social media.

Max Geller, who created of the Instagram account Renoir Sucks at Painting, has demanded that the MFA take its Renoirs off the walls and replace them with something better. Placards with messages such as “God Hates Renoir” and “Treacle Harms Society,” were visable. The group consumed cheese pizza purchased by Geller, and chanted: “Put some fingers on those hands! Give us work by Paul Gauguin !” and “Other art is worth your while! Renoir paints a steaming pile!” 

On Instagram, the group stated: “The MFA’s decision to hang Renoir paintings, considering the fact the museum has masterpieces by actually talented artist [sic] in storage, is a curatorial failing, and amounts to an act of Aesthetic Terrorism.” ‘Deformed pink fuzzy women’

The protest was organised by stem cell scientist Dr Ben Ewen-Campen, from Harvard who said “Seeing Renoirs in the MFA makes me sad.

“All the other art in the museum is great – Manet, Van Gogh, Singer Sargent, they’re great! But then we get exposed to Renoir’s deformed pink fuzzy women and scary looking babies. It really detracts from the overall experience.”

Photo: Via Renoir Sucks Twitter account

Tags

,