One of the largest museums in Paris, whose galleries display some of the world’s most famous nudes, was recently accused of discrimination and sexism after refusing entry to a female student because of her dress.
A zealous official, according to whom life does not imitate art, told the literature student, whose name is Jeanne, that "rules are rules" and ordered her to cover her cleavage if she wanted to enter the Musée d'Orsay.
"I arrived at the entrance of the museum, I did not even have time to get the ticket when the appearance of my breasts shocked the official in charge of checking the reservations," wrote Jeanne in a letter posted on Twitter, already widely spread on social networks. "I did not know that my cleavage had become the cause of all this drama," she said.
Jeanne describes the feeling of shame as the whole staff looked at her cleavage. "I asked what was going on, but no one answered. They saw my breasts. "I did not understand what was happening," she added.
In the letter, she points out that there were other girls around, for example one of them had revealed her belly through a crop-top blouse, but no one said anything to her.
Jeanne ended the letter by saying: “I am not ashamed. "Your double standards should not be an obstacle to my access to culture and knowledge."
Open letter @MuseeOrsay
— Tô’ (@jeavnne) September 9, 2020
Attached is the dress of discord (photo taken four hours earlier) pic.twitter.com/FTIXQKsdRZ
Following the viral post, the museum wrote on Twitter that it had been made aware of the incident, of which it was "deeply sorry". An official called Jeanne to apologize.
This is not the first time that the Musée d'Orsay - home to some of the most famous nude paintings of all time, such as The Origin of the World (Gustave Courbet), Olympia (oudouard Manet) and the Grand Nu (August Renoir) - discusses situations Similar. In 2016, Jonathan Jones wrote in the Guardian that staff called police after an artist appeared nude next to Manet's work. Deborah de Robertis, from Luxembourg, spent nearly two days in jail before a judge dropped a charge of misconduct in public.
Source: The Guardian
