The Danish government has decided to remove a massive sexualized mermaid statue from public view in Dragør Fort, Copenhagen.
The decision comes after the 13-foot tall Big Mermaid sculpture received continual criticism, including most recently from critic Sorine Gotfredsen, who wrote in the Danish newspaper Berlingske, “Erecting a statue of a man’s hot dream of what a woman should look like is unlikely to promote many women’s acceptance of their own bodies.” Politiken’s art critic Mathias Kryger took an alternative perspective, describing the statue as both “ugly and pornographic.”
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The stone statue, inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Little Mermaid” fairytale, arches her back as she leans overtop a rock with her breasts prominently displayed and her head held high. It was originally installed near the famous Little Mermaid sculpture, which is perched on top of a rock and appears to look toward the ocean, in the center of Copenhagen, but the Big Mermaid was subsequently relocated south of the city in Dragør Fort in 2018.
As a protected monument, Dragør Fort falls under the protection of the Danish Museum Act. The Agency for Culture and Palaces, a sector of the Danish Ministry of Culture, oversees the site and is responsible for approving any alterations.
“In this context, the agency determined that alterations had been made to Dragør Fort, including the installation of a large mermaid sculpture, without prior permission. The agency has assessed that the sculpture must be removed from Dragør Fort, as it disrupts the fortification’s military structure and constitutes an element that is unfamiliar to the site,” the Agency for Culture and Palaces said in a statement, as reported by the Art Newspaper.
“It’s truly uplifting that many find the statue vulgar, unpoetic, and undesirable, because we’re suffocating in overbearing bodies in public space,” Gotfredsen added.
The owner is responsible for the sculpture’s removal; however, it is unclear who exactly owns the work.
Peter Bech, the Danish entrepreneur who is responsible for commissioning the piece, defended the sculpture to the Guardian earlier this month, saying that the mermaid’s breasts are simply “of a proportional size” to its scale. He added that he does not understand the criticism and is actively fighting to keep the sculpture in town.