Why Did a Spectator Kiss a Masterpiece? The Full Story of the Cy Twombly Incident

Introduction

In 2010, the Louvre Museum commissioned Cy Twombly to paint the ceiling of the former 'Salle des Bronzes.' Twombly was not just a popular contemporary artist; he was the type of creator entrusted with the very space of one of the world's leading museums. Three years before that Louvre commission, a spectator kissed one of this painter's works as an 'expression of love,' leaving a lipstick mark behind.

The 'White Canvas' Representing Platonic Love

The incident occurred in 2007 at the Collection Lambert, a museum in Avignon, France. A visitor named Rindy Sam kissed the triptych 'Phaedrus' by Twombly that was on display. This work is an asymmetrical three-part composition consisting of a pure white canvas, a white screen containing red traces, and textual elements. It is considered a series created in response to Plato's writings, where the white canvas represents 'platonic love' and the red-stained screen represents 'physical love.' And the part that was kissed was the pure white canvas.

An 'Act of Love' Cannot Be Restored

The defendant stated in court that it was 'an act of love.' However, at the level of conservation and restoration, it was not romantic at all. According to the Los Angeles Times, restorers tried nearly 30 different chemical agents but were unable to remove the lipstick mark.

The verdict ordered Sam to perform 100 hours of community service and to pay 1,000 euros (approx. 186,000 yen) to the owner of the work, 500 euros (approx. 93,000 yen) to the museum, and a symbolic 1 euro (approx. 186 yen) to Twombly himself. Furthermore, the dispute over restoration costs continued, and she was ultimately ordered to pay an additional 18,840 euros (approx. 3.51 million yen). The owner had sought 33,400 euros (approx. 6.23 million yen) in restoration costs, and the value of the work was reported at the time to be in the 2-million-euro range (approx. 373 million yen at current exchange rates). In other words, this incident was not a romantic story of an 'act of love,' but literally a high-cost damage incident.

The Museum's Subsequent Response

What is even more characteristic of contemporary art is what happened next. The Collection Lambert opposed the incident being consumed merely as a scandal and organized an exhibition titled 'I Don’t Kiss'. According to the official description, artists expressed their support for Twombly and brought in existing or new works that responded to the incident. The exhibition title was derived from the words of Lawrence Weiner, and participants included Douglas Gordon, Annette Messager, Barbara Kruger, and Anselm Kiefer. The museum did not just protect the damaged work; it incorporated the incident itself into the exhibition. Contemporary art sometimes even integrates damage into its context.

Conclusion

The white screen was not a blank space for spectators to add to. The moment someone added their own emotions to it, love became a trace, the trace became damage that was nearly impossible to restore, and the damage turned into compensation in a court of law. Twombly's white screen was not a blank space to receive someone's passion, but a white so complete that it should never have been touched.

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