Deborah De Robertis (born 12 February 1984) is a
performance artist
Performance art is an artwork or art exhibition created through actions executed by the artist or other participants. It may be witnessed live or through documentation, spontaneously developed or written, and is traditionally presented to a pu ...
and photographer from Luxembourg.
She studied at the in Belgium and as of May 2020 was living in
Brussels
Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...
.
Biography
De Robertis was born in Luxembourg on 12 February 1984.
Work
In 2014, media attention was initially drawn to her when she executed "Mirror of Origin", an impromptu performance in which she exposed her genitals at the
Musée d'Orsay
The Musée d'Orsay ( , , ) () is a museum in Paris, France, on the Rive Gauche, Left Bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts architecture, Beaux-Arts railway station built from 1898 to 1900. The museum holds mai ...
in front of
Gustave Courbet
Jean Désiré Gustave Courbet ( ; ; ; 10 June 1819 – 31 December 1877) was a French painter who led the Realism movement in 19th-century French painting. Committed to painting only what he could see, he rejected academic convention and the ...
's painting ''
L'Origine du monde
(, "The Origin of the World") is a picture painted in oil on canvas by the French painter Gustave Courbet in 1866. It is a close-up view of the vulva and abdomen of a naked woman, lying on a bed with legs spread.
History Identity of the model
...
''.
In 2016, she posed nude at the Musée d'Orsay in front of
Édouard Manet
Édouard Manet (, ; ; 23 January 1832 – 30 April 1883) was a French Modernism, modernist painter. He was one of the first 19th-century artists to paint modern life, as well as a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism (art movement), R ...
's ''
Olympia''.
In 2018, De Robertis organized a
happening
A happening is a performance, event, or situation art, usually as performance art. The term was first used by Allan Kaprow in 1959 to describe a range of art-related events.
History
Origins
Allan Kaprow first coined the term "happening" i ...
during a
yellow vests movement
The yellow vests protests or yellow-jacket protests (, ) were a series of Populism, populist, grassroots weekly protests in France that began on 17 November 2018 and ended on 28 June 2020. Some minor protests started again after the restriction ...
demonstration in Paris. Along with four other women dressed as
Marianne
Marianne () has been the national personification of the French Republic since the French Revolution, as a personification of liberty, equality, fraternity and reason, as well as a portrayal of the Goddess of Liberty.
Marianne is displayed i ...
, the symbolic figure of the French Republic, covered with silver paint and
bare-chested, she stood silently facing a
riot squad
Riot control is a form of public order policing used by law enforcement, military, paramilitary or security forces to social control, control, disperse, and arrest people who are involved in a riot, unlawful Demonstration (people), demonstration ...
.
In May 2024, De Robertis organized a protest during which five works at the
Centre Pompidou-Metz
The Centre Pompidou-Metz is a museum of modern and contemporary art located in Metz, capital of Lorraine, France. It is a branch of Pompidou arts centre of Paris, and features semi-permanent and temporary exhibitions from the large collection ...
, including ''
L'Origine du monde
(, "The Origin of the World") is a picture painted in oil on canvas by the French painter Gustave Courbet in 1866. It is a close-up view of the vulva and abdomen of a naked woman, lying on a bed with legs spread.
History Identity of the model
...
'' and an embroidered work by
Annette Messager
Annette Messager (born 30 November 1943) is a French visual artist. She is known for championing the techniques and materials of outsider art. In 2005, she won the Golden Lion Award at the Venice Biennale for her artwork at the French pavilion, F ...
, were defaced with the words "Me too".
See also
*''
Olympia'' (1865), painting by
Édouard Manet
Édouard Manet (, ; ; 23 January 1832 – 30 April 1883) was a French Modernism, modernist painter. He was one of the first 19th-century artists to paint modern life, as well as a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism (art movement), R ...
*''
L'Origine du monde
(, "The Origin of the World") is a picture painted in oil on canvas by the French painter Gustave Courbet in 1866. It is a close-up view of the vulva and abdomen of a naked woman, lying on a bed with legs spread.
History Identity of the model
...
'' (1866), painting by
Gustave Courbet
Jean Désiré Gustave Courbet ( ; ; ; 10 June 1819 – 31 December 1877) was a French painter who led the Realism movement in 19th-century French painting. Committed to painting only what he could see, he rejected academic convention and the ...
*
Marianne
Marianne () has been the national personification of the French Republic since the French Revolution, as a personification of liberty, equality, fraternity and reason, as well as a portrayal of the Goddess of Liberty.
Marianne is displayed i ...
, French national symbol
References
External links
Living people
1984 births
Women performance artists
Luxembourgian photographers
Place of birth missing (living people)
Luxembourgian women artists
21st-century women photographers
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