On the occasion of its exhibition Gustave Courbet and the presentation of Courbet’s painting L’Origine du Monde (The Origin of the World), Fondation Beyeler in Riehen (Basel, Switzerland) organized a discussion with the title Art, Scandal and the Breaking of Taboos, and the participants Tracey Emin, Elisabeth Bronfen, Sir Norman Rosenthal, Andreas Beyer, and Finn Canonica. The video above is an excerpt, the complete version is available below.

“Decisive new impulses have repeatedly been transmitted to art by artists who have deliberately flaunted convention. Art history is a history of the breaking of taboos. Scandalous artworks are often associated with provocative representations of sexuality. Why is Courbet’s L’Origine du Monde still controversial today? To what extent has the role women play in art changed since it was painted? Which artworks have the potential to break taboos today? These and other questions were discussed at the Fondation Beyeler by the artist Tracey Emin, the literary expert and feminist Elisabeth Bronfen, the British curator Sir Norman Rosenthal and the art historian Andreas Beyer. Presented by: Finn Canonica, chief editor of Das Magazin.”

Art, Scandal and the Breaking of Taboos. Talk at Fondation Beyeler within the context of the exhibition Gustave Courbet at Fondation Beyeler, October 9, 2014. The exhibition Gustave Courbet at Fondation Beyeler runs until January 18, 2015.

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Complete video (1:25:36):