The Museum of Hong Kong "downloads" a painting on the subject of Tiananmen Square

the last three months museums and its galleries Hong Kong were closed due to its outbreak coronavirus. As soon as they opened, however, a few days ago, visitors returned to one of these museums and noticed a very "suspicious" absence.

Among the works of art removed from the collection of M +, the city's most important museum of modern art, was the "New Beijing" painting by Chinese artist Wang Xingwei.

The painting, created in 2001, depicts two injured and bloodied emperor penguins in a cart, an obvious metaphor for the dead protesters in the bloody events of Tiananmen Square in 1989.

The artist was inspired by a photo by Liu Heung Shing, for the Associated Press. In place of the two injured young men in the photo, the artist put the penguins.

In place of the painting is another, although both Wang's painting and Liu's photograph remain in the possession of M + and are listed.

Art and "discreet" censorship

Eight more works of art "came down" from the walls of the Museum, among which a portrait of Mao full of red lines, by the artist Wang Guangyi.

The West Kowloon Culture Committee responded to a question from CNNi, saying that the removal of the paintings is part of the system of rotating works of art. "M +'s plans have always been to rotate 200 works of art into a circular flow, depending on their maintenance needs," said the statement, which declined to comment on whether any of the works were removed for political reasons.

The painting is part of a collection of 1.500 works of contemporary Chinese art donated to M + by Swiss collector Uli Sigg in 2012. All works were created between 1970 and 2000, a period of great political upheaval for China.

When the Museum opened, just 18 months after Hong Kong's move to China in 2020, many observers wondered if the collection's works were compatible with the new National Security Act.

Among them are the works of Ai Wei Wei. Now, the initial optimism that the artists would enjoy some degree of independence in the museum seems to be fading.

In the last six months, every work of art with references to the events in Tiananmen Square has been lost on land in Hong Kong, the only place on Chinese soil where people could once freely comment on the event.

cnn.gr