Tasmania’s Museum of Old and New Art (Mona) in Hobart, which recently attracted attention for excluding individuals who “do not identify as ladies” from its “Ladies Lounge” installation, has again found itself in the spotlight. This time, the controversy surrounds several artworks, purportedly by Pablo Picasso, that were revealed to be forgeries.
The suspicions were first raised by the Guardian Australia and the Picasso Administration. The museum admitted on Wednesday that the supposed Picassos were, in fact, the work of Kirsha Kaechele, an artist and curator who is also the wife of Mona’s wealthy owner, David Walsh.
Earlier, “Ladies Lounge,” curated by Kaechele and opened in 2020, featured a female-only audience pampered by male butlers serving champagne. Following a court ruling that the exhibition was discriminatory and must admit men, the fake Picassos were relocated from the lounge to a ladies’ toilet cubicle within the museum. The legal case was initiated by an Australian man who argued that the show violated Tasmania’s Anti-Discrimination Act by discriminating against his gender.
In court, Kaechele defended the exhibition as a response to historical restrictions placed on women. She expressed delight at the lawsuit against Mona, viewing it as a significant point of discussion. Prior to admitting the forgeries, the museum had claimed that Kaechele inherited the artworks from her great-grandmother, who was alleged to have been a lover of Picasso. Among the forgeries was a replica of “Luncheon on the Grass, After Manet” (1961) by the Spanish painter.
In a blog post, Kaechele issued an apology to the Picasso Administration, which oversees the late artist’s estate, and wrote: “I am very very sorry for causing you this problem.”
