German museum cancels Balthus show after critics cry paedophilia

German Museum Deems Balthus Show 'Paedophilic'

The Museum Folkwang in Essen has cancelled a planned exhibition of Polaroids by the French-Polish artist Balthus featuring a model called Anna who posed for him from the age of eight to 16. The museum announced yesterday, 5 February, that it decided not to stage the show because it “could lead to unwanted legal consequences and the closure of the exhibition”.

“Balthus: the Last Pictures” was due to open in April and include 2,000 Polaroids taken by the artist when he was more than 80 years old. He used some of them as preparatory works for his paintings.

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