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Vicious vandals violate voluminous Versailles vagina

Controversial orifice sculpture attacked with yellow paint

Artist Anish Kapoor has decried French "intolerance" towards art, after vandals attacked his vast vagina sculpture in the gardens of the Palace of Versailles.

The provocative work – officially dubbed "Dirty Corner", but known popularly as the "Queen's Vagina" – was discovered damaged by yellow paint on Wednesday morning.

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Dirty Corner. Pic: Frederic Legrand – COMEO / Shutterstock.com

Kapoor thundered to Le Figaro: "What a tragedy. How sad. If this act of vandalism says anything, it's that there is a certain intolerance in France towards any kind of art."

The 61-year-old British-Indian sculptor described the damage to the work as "significant". He was unable to say whether it could be cleaned in situ or would have to be dismantled.

He denied the giant orifice was intended to provoke, explaining: "I categorically reject any comparison with the work of American artist Paul McCarthy, which is sexually explicit and presented as such."

McCarthy, as aficionados of enormous sex toys will be aware, caused a bit of a rumpus with "Tree" – a 24-metre butt plug which made a brief appearance at the plâce Vendôme in Paris last year. It too was vandalised and removed after just three days. ®

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