The Danish government, after months of controversy, has decided to remove the giant mermaid statue that had been criticized by civic groups and art critics as offensive and pornographic. This work, created as a modern symbol of the famous tale “The Little Mermaid”, not only failed to establish itself within public culture but also became a symbol of the clash between traditionalism and the vulgarity of contemporary art.
Analysis by Zeinab Heydari :
In Denmark, the construction of a six-meter, exaggerated version of the Mermaid statue—emphasizing the female body—turned from a simple idea into a cultural crisis. Although the work drew public attention, it sparked a wave of criticism for its sexism and artistic vulgarity. Opponents viewed it as a clear example of the most gendered traditions of art and the continued commodification of the female body, while the artist insisted that the piece was meant as “a challenge to society’s negative attitudes toward women’s bodies.” Yet, within this claim lay a profound contradiction.
How can one claim to fight objectification by using the very same tools and clichés that have reduced women to visual objects for centuries? If the critique is against turning women into objects, why should artistic expression once again take a form that places at its center the body, the nudity, and the visual stimulus? This paradox is precisely where the mission of art and the responsibility of the artist are put to the test.
The place of women in culture and art has always been an arena of tension. Throughout history, women in artistic works have sometimes appeared as symbols of life, wisdom, beauty, or resistance, and at other times been depicted as instruments of male visual pleasure. In the modern era, particularly in the West, the female body has become one of the best-selling “commodities” in advertising, fashion, and entertainment. Gradually, the boundary between art and the entertainment industry, between cultural messaging and visual consumerism, has blurred.
In such a space, the mission of art and the artist must go beyond creating something eye-catching. Through knowledge, imagination, and social responsibility, the artist should expand the boundaries of understanding and awareness. For art to endure and have a lasting impact, it must transcend appearances and address fundamental questions about society, culture, and humanity.
Vulgarity in modern art is a complex and multilayered phenomenon, arising when the main purpose of a work is quick attention and media consumption, rather than conveying a lasting meaning. In this logic, the female body—especially nudity or exaggerated female forms—becomes one of the most effective tools to guarantee visibility. And it is precisely here that the artwork, instead of working against stereotypes, ends up reinforcing them.
This mermaid statue was a living example of this very process. Instead of using cultural metaphors, multilayered narratives, or a reinterpretation of the mermaid myth, the easier path was chosen: enlarging the symbol and adding details that, predictably, would provoke reactions from media and social networks. As a result, instead of sparking a deeper conversation about women’s place in society, the female body itself became the central topic—packaged in a form scarcely different from a fashion magazine cover or an advertising poster.
Artists who claim to pursue social critique must realize that every aesthetic choice carries cultural and symbolic weight. If the language of art is the same as the dominant language of the market, then the work—no matter how noisy—cannot lead to a new discourse. This was clearly evident in the case of the Copenhagen mermaid statue: what was supposed to be a critique of limiting views of the female body turned into yet another example of the same perspective.
True art portrays women not as bodies to be gazed upon, but as beings with history, experience, thought, and independent narratives. And this is the very difference between a lasting work of art and a fleeting one.
The removal of this statue serves as a clear warning: if art forgets its mission and submits to media vulgarity and consumerism, the place of women will not be elevated but further reduced to the arena of cultural marketing—an arena where human value is measured by visibility, not by the depth of meaning it can add to the world.