The most controversial and controversial works of art in history – some of which have been exhibited in Paris, and all of which have caused a stir.

Impossible to forget. In 2014, Place Vendôme welcomed a monumental inflatable anal plug by artist Paul McCarthy. Installed in the heart of the Parisian temple of luxury, the object sparked national controversy. Deemed provocative, inappropriate or ingenious depending on one’s point of view, the plug instantly became a symbol of controversial contemporary art in Paris. The result? Vandalized, removed, but forever engraved in the collective memory.

When artist Alex Da Corte invited Kermit the Frog to the Place Vendôme as part of the Art Basel Paris festival, Parisian chic almost choked on its café crème. Seeing the world’s most candid pop icon disembark at the heart of the temple of luxury, between ultra-select jewelers and Haussmannian façades, was something of an artistic leap. Whether a mischievous provocation or an assumed genius, this improbable appearance shook up the codes, triggering hilarious selfies and scandalized sighs in equal measure. One thing’s for sure: by transforming Paris’s most precious square into a playground for a cult frog, art has proved that it loves to hijack the codes of pop culture.

Sold for $12.1 million at Sotheby’s New York, they’ve definitely found their place at Ripley’s. With Gold Toilet, contemporary art flushes out good taste and joyfully splashes into the world of luxury. Imagined as a veritable functional toilet in solid 18-carat gold, this ultra-bling throne – valued at several million dollars – transforms the most banal (and least glamorous) gesture into a disconcerting artistic experience. Part social satire, part nose-thumbing at elites, the work invites everyone to literally sit on wealth, blurring the boundaries between art, provocation and utter absurdity. A wry nod to our obsession with gold, power and status, Gold Toilet proves that when it comes tocontroversial art, even the toilet can become a manifesto.

Him again. With Comedian, Maurizio Cattelan has succeeded in transforming a simple banana taped to a wall into a global star of contemporary art. Presented in 2019 at Art Basel Miami, the work – which sold for $120,000 – triggered laughter, indignation and heated debate about what art is (or isn’t) today. A brilliant provocation for some, a vast joke for others, Comedian plays with the art market, the absurd and our fascination with buzz, reminding us that sometimes it doesn’t take much to shake an entire system. A work as ephemeral as it is viral, perfectly in keeping with Cattelan’s grittyDNA .

Wim Delvoye ‘s invention is a cross between a laboratory machine and an artistic bad trip. First presented in 2000, Cloaca is literally a digestion machine – it swallows real food, transports it through a series of tubes and tanks heated as if in our own bellies, and then comes out… real excrement, packaged and stamped in luxury-brand style! Where other artists hide behind metaphors, Delvoye embraces the absurd to the hilt: this work actually works, costs a small fortune to make and forces us to rethink our relationship to the body, to consumption and to taboo, that thing we’d rather avoid naming in a museum. The result? Cloaca is one of the most talked-about (and debatable) works in contemporary art.

With Piggy, Damien Hirst hits hard and goes where the itch is. A candy-pink pig, cut in half lengthwise, displayed like a laboratory specimen in impeccable showcases: the image is as disturbing as it is pop. Between black humor and brutality, the British artist transforms the most familiar animal into an object of clinical contemplation, forcing the eye to oscillate between disgust and curiosity. True to his taste for provocation, Hirst plays with our relationship to death, consumption and spectacle, reminding us that contemporary art loves to flirt with the limit, as fine as glass…

It’s hard to talk about controversial art without mentioning Maurizio Cattelan ‘s “La Nona Ora”: a pope struck down by a meteorite. Presented for the first time in 2009 at the Palais des Arts in Dinard, then in Paris, the work shocked believers and conservatives alike, while fascinating contemporary art lovers. A frozen scene, absurd and tragic, it questions power, faith and the fall of icons.

What if the bizarre became a destination?

If these works fascinate as much as they intrigue you, you should know that there are places dedicated to the strange, the unusual and the totally improbable. To explore this type of universe around the world (and perhaps fuel your next cultural getaway), take a look at this map of unusual places:
🔗 https://www.ripleys.com/locations