Controversial Painting of Jesus Removed

PASSAU, Germany, April 7, 2008 — -- When Alfred Hrdlicka, Austria's most cherished — and most provocative — artist turned 80 earlier this year, Vienna's Cathedral and Diocesan Museum was ready to honor him with an exhibit of his most impressive works, which included a homoerotic painting of "The Last Supper."

Hrdlicka's "The Last Supper, restored by Pier Paolo Pasolini," shows cavorting apostles sprawling over the dining table and masturbating each other. Pasolini was a controversial Italian filmmaker and writer who was murdered in the 1970s.

Although curators at the small museum knew it would be risky to show Hrdlicka's painting, they were unprepared for the barrage of angry messages and negative reactions they received, mainly from people in the United States, who reacted to reports of the mural on Catholic Web sites. Some called for the exhibition to be shut down.

The museum, hoping to tamp down criticism, hastily removed the main picture, "a homosexual orgy" of the apostles, as the artist describes it.

But the protests continued.

The exhibition has attracted fierce criticism on religion blogs, with bloggers denouncing it with such terms as "blasphemy" and "desecration."

One article on the Catholic Web site kreuz.net called for the museum director to apologize to Catholics worldwide.

In the United States, conservative columnist Rod Dreher wrote in his widely read religion blog, "I would not have guessed that, given his reputation, a man like [Austrian Archbishop Christoph] Schoenborn would have stood for this abomination for half a second."

The Cathedral Museum's director, Bernhard Boehler, has reportedly been defending his decision to host the images in a museum tied to the Roman Catholic Church.

Boehler, who could not be reached today, has previously told reporters in Vienna that "Hrdlicka is entitled to represent people in this carnal, drastic way. I don't see any blasphemy here. We never intended to offend people. Art should be allowed to provoke a debate."