Art is many things—beauty, talent, skill—but above all, a purely human form of self-expression. As such, it can be emotional, subjective, and often divisive. Art is unlike other parts of life where things are more easily evaluated, such as the latest tech rated by Consumer Reports or online casinos analysis and ranked by experts at Casinos.com. It cannot be universally regarded as good or bad. What inspires deep contemplation and awe in one person can spur anger and disgust in another.
Many artists have embraced the division and controversy that art can inspire, leading us to question what art actually is. They’ve also used art to make pointed statements about our societies and cultures—and sometimes, they raise questions and make statements simultaneously. Many art pieces are considered controversial, ridiculous, and outrageous, but the six listed here stirred up more drama and controversy than most.
1. “Fountain,” Marcel Duchamp, 1917
When Marcel Duchamp submitted “Fountain” to be exhibited, he struggled to persuade his peers to display the piece. “Fountain” was a readymade piece, a mass-produced urinal to which Duchamp added the signature “R. Mutt” and the year. It was by no means a traditional form of art, but it was part of an art movement where artists found objects, adding to them or leaving them as they were and declaring them art. This piece particularly made waves in the art world because it challenged the notion of traditional art and what we consider art to be, which was a significant characteristic of Duchamp’s work as a pioneer of Dadaism and readymade art.
2. “Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn,” Ai Weiwei, 1995
Ai Weiwei displayed three photographs in 1995 titled “Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn.” As the name implies, the photos revealed the artist dropping a 2,000-year-old ceremonial urn, letting it break to pieces at his feet. The destruction of such a historic and valuable piece outraged many, but for Weiwei, the outrage reinforced the statements he was making with his art. He is a Chinese activist who grew up during the Cultural Revolution, and much of his work calls into question what we place value in and why in relation to this influence.
3. “Comedian,” Maurizio Cattelan, 2019
The name alludes to humor, and the art prompted many to wonder if it was a joke because it consisted of a banana duct-taped to a wall. As far as one can tell, it wasn’t a joke; though the artist is known for his humor, it was an intentional creation that recalled the work of Duchamp by bringing the art world and its spectators back to the question of what art is and how we place value on something. “Comedian” went viral on social media, making it a conversation piece, and when it sold for a whopping $6.24 million, it cemented the piece in art history.
The buyer was a crypto platform founder who believed the work to be “a cultural phenomenon that bridges the worlds of art, memes, and the cryptocurrency community.” Whether you agree with the buyer or not, the ability of this piece to raise so many pointed conversations and to divide opinions so strongly makes it precisely what the artist intended: a piece of conceptual art. And, if you were wondering, the buyer did indeed eat the banana.
4. “Erased de Kooning,” Robert Rauschenberg, 1953
“Erased de Kooning” inspired some and left others feeling it was a work of vandalism. The piece involved taking a grease pencil and charcoal drawing created by Willem de Kooning, a well-known abstract expressionist of the time, and the artist Robert Rauschenberg erasing it. Rauschenberg wanted to see if art could be created not by producing drawings or paintings on a page but instead by removing them. It’s easy to see how the line of thinking might inspire some, but it’s also easy to understand the outrage.
5. “Love Is in the Bin,” Banksy, 2018
The famous and anonymous street artist Banksy often creates thought-provoking pieces, but with “Love Is in the Bin,” the artist took his work to the next level. The work saw a copy of Bansky’s “Girl with Balloon” piece get auctioned off, and at the moment of sale, the piece went into a shredder built into its frame. The shredding stopped just before the widely recognized heart-shaped red balloon went through. The auction was held at Sotheby’s, and everyone in the room watched in shock as the painting was shredded.
The woman who bought the painting for $1.4 million kept it as it was, and the piece was renamed. Many thought that the auction house was in on the shredding of the piece, but this wasn’t the case. The artist had very clear stipulations that the piece should be sold in the frame it came in, and moving it from this would ruin its artistic value.
6. “The Holy Virgin Mary,” Chris Ofili, 1996
Chris Ofili’s “The Holy Virgin Mary” takes the idea of the Madonna we’re familiar with and uses mixed media to recreate it. The piece shows a Black Madonna made of glitter, resin, pins, and elephant dung. (Yes, you read that right.) The elephant dung is lacquered and takes the place of the Virgin Mary’s breast, often exposed in paintings depicting the figure. Surrounding her are cherubs made of clippings from pornographic magazines. Upon the piece’s initial displays as part of the Sensation exhibit, which toured Europe, Ofili’s work was award-winning but didn’t make headlines. However, upon arriving in the United States, it stirred great controversy. The piece was described as having elephant dung splattered across it, and vocal critics felt it was blasphemous. It was even vandalized while on display in the Brooklyn Museum of Art. Nothing changed about the painting but the location, and it led to strong, divisive opinions across the country, with politicians, celebrities, and religious figures weighing in on the debate. It wasn’t the art itself that made the piece outrageous; instead, spectator attitudes and misinformation made it so. Ironically, the piece is now housed at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, though this was met with far less controversy.