The Most Controversial Artworks of the 21st Century So Far

The Most Controversial Artworks of the 21st Century So Far

The world loves few things better than a controversy involving an artist. Such brouhahas are nothing new; Caravaggio’s Death of the Virgin (c. 1605–06), for instance, was rejected by the Church fathers who commissioned it for the chapel of Santa Maria Della Scala in Rome because of its brutally realistic depiction of Mary—for whom a prostitute served as model, according to some sources. Clashes became more regular during the 19th century, when é…