A member of the Greek parliament from the right-wing populist party Niki reportedly stormed into the National Gallery in Athens and in a frenzied state smashed a protective glass panel on Monday.
Greek MP Nikolaos Papadopoulos has been arrested and accused of aggravated property damage after grabbing icons and shouting “It was an insult to religion”.
According to initial reports, his actions targeted religious icons that were on exhibition at the museum. Sources indicate that the member of parliament for the Niki party was motivated by his belief that the exhibition currently hosted at the National Gallery was blasphemous.
A few days ago, Papadopoulos had sent a letter to the National Gallery and submitted a formal question to the Minister of Culture, demanding the removal of the exhibits.
These are the exhibits the Greek politician took from the museum.
In his letter, he argued that the National Gallery was displaying “a work by a Greek artist that flagrantly offends the Orthodox Christian faith, directly insulting the sacred figures of the Virgin Mary and Christ, who are depicted in a distorted manner.”
The exhibition in question, titled The Allure of the Bizarre – A Survey of Greek Art, is inspired by the works of Francisco Goya. As the site of the National Gallery in Athens explains: “This companion exhibition brings together ten Greek artists—including the surreal figurations of Dionysis Kavallieratos and Marianna Ignataki’s phantasmagoric drawings—who carry forward Goya’s fascination with the hybrid and grotesque. The juxtaposition offers a rare opportunity to trace the lineage of artistic subversion from eighteenth-century Spain to present-day Athens, demonstrating how the master’s dark imaginings continue to resonate in our own uncertain times.“
