In the latest bizarre twist, the museum has revealed that the set of “Picassos” at the center of it all was never made by the surrealist Spanish artist — they were fake the whole time.
Kirsha Kaechele, the American artist and curator behind the exhibition — who is married to MONA’s owner — wrote in a Wednesday blog post that while gathering paintings for the exhibition, she “knew they had to be ‘Picassos,’” but couldn’t find one that worked.
“So I made the artworks, quite painstakingly, with my own hands,” Kaechele wrote on the museum’s website. Kaechele said she made the “Picassos” over three years ago with etching help from her manicurist’s niece.
“I knew of a number of Picasso paintings I could borrow from friends, but none of them were green and I wished for the Lounge to be monochrome,” she said. “I also had time working against me, not to mention the cost of insuring a Picasso—exorbitant!”
As of Wednesday, a reference to “several priceless Picassos” at the MONA lounge no longer appeared on the museum’s website. A spokeswoman for MONA declined to comment on whether the museum was aware that the works on display had been wrongly attributed to Pablo Picasso. Kaechele did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.
Kaechele’s confession capped off months of drama that tested the boundaries of what counts as conceptual art and unlawful gender discrimination.
In 2020, MONA unveiled its “Ladies Lounge” exhibition, a space for anyone who identified as a woman separated from the rest of the museum by opulent green curtains with only one man allowed inside: the butler, tasked with serving the patrons. A staff member stationed outside prevented any visitor who did not identify as a woman from entering. And for an extra $325, guests could indulge in a high tea service featuring finger food.
The museum advertised the “Ladies Lounge” as a place for “high society hobnobbing” under Picasso’s shadow: “It’s inspired by Kirsha’s great-grandmother: a scandalous socialite who threw ladies-only parties at her Beverly Hills and Basel estates involving a fleet of devoted butlers, 400-year-old wines, and the occasional visit from Pablo Picasso (hold on to your champagne and caviar: several priceless Picassos furnish the lounge here at Mona, rummaged from great-granny’s attic).”
Then, things got fiery. In March, one of the excluded men, Jason Lau, argued before Tasmania’s civil and administrative tribunal that the lounge violated anti-discrimination laws by refusing him entry when he visited the museum.
“We won’t let men in,” Kaechele said in a telephone interview with The Washington Post during the proceedings. At the same time, she said she “got a rise” out of the discrimination complaint. “It carries it out of the museum and into the real world,” she said.
MONA’s lawyers argued that the exclusion of men from the artwork was an acceptable form of discrimination because it “is part of the artwork itself.” But the court disagreed, ruling on April 9 that the museum had 28 days to stop refusing entry to the exhibition “by people who do not identify as ladies.”
In response, MONA moved part of its collection to the women’s restroom. “I thought a few of the bathrooms in the museum could do with an update … Some cubism in the cubicles. So I’ve relocated the Picassos,” Kaechele said in an email last month shared by a spokeswoman, Sara Gates-Matthews.
Kaechele said her admission that the works were fake came after pressure from a reporter and an “impeccably mannered” letter she said she received from the Picasso Administration.
In response to a request for comment, the Paris-based Picasso Administration responded with an automatic email that said the office was closed until Sept. 2, and that “no requests will be processed during this period.”
In her blog post, Kaechele expressed surprise that no visitor had caught her out in the ruse — which lasted over three years — sooner: “I imagined that a Picasso scholar, or maybe just a Picasso fan, or maybe just someone who googles things, would visit the Ladies Lounge … and expose me on social media.” The story about her family’s connection to Spanish surrealist was also false, Kaechele acknowledged: “I’m flattered that people believed my great-grandmother summered with Picasso at her Swiss chateau.”
Kaechele also described seeing the original version of one of her paintings at the Ladies Lounge at the Picasso Museum in Paris. A photograph taken in a MONA toilet shows an artwork similar to “Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe d’après Manet,” a real Picasso oil painting housed by the Picasso Museum in Paris.
MONA and its associated events have a history of unusual exhibitions that have sparked protest and debate: Its owner, David Walsh, has billed it a “subversive adult Disneyland.” Christians, animal rights groups and Indigenous people have protested against the museum over various planned works. Other exhibits have included a wall of sculpted vulvas based on women’s bodies, as well as a machine that mimics human digestion and defecates daily.
In her acknowledgment, Kaechele did not express regret — but did offer an apology to the Picasso Administration for causing any problems, adding that she had a huge amount of respect for the master.
“I am relieved I have told you because now we can revel together in this madness. Assuming you still want to speak to me. (I hope you can forgive me.)”
Frances Vinall and Rachel Pannett contributed reporting.
