Pablo Picasso was of the view that the “purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls”.
The purpose of the hand basins above which his paintings now hang in a women’s lavatory is broadly the same.
It is perhaps fitting, then, that Picasso masterpieces have been installed in the toilet at the Museum of Old and New Art (Mona) in Hobart, Tasmania, as part of a simmering row that has occupied much of the daily life of the museum in recent months.
All the lavatories at the museum were unisex before one was designated a ladies’ and the Picassos moved there
KIRSHAKAECHELE/INSTAGRAM
The move is part of an attempt to defeat a discrimination complaint by a man who was refused access to a small, women-only gallery, the Ladies Lounge, where the works were first displayed.
