France charges artist over MeToo graffiti on notorious painting

French authorities have charged the prominent French-Luxembourgish performance artist Deborah de Robertis over the spraying of the words "MeToo" on five artworks including a famous 19th-century painting of a woman's vulva, a prosecutor said Monday.

De Robertis had claimed being behind the stunt in early May that targeted "The Origin of the World" by French artist Gustave Courbet, seen as the most explicit painting in 19th-century Western art.

Usually held at the Musee d'Orsay in Paris, it was being shown on loan at an exhibition at the Centre Pompidou in the eastern city of Metz in the Moselle region.

She was charged on May 29 for causing deliberate damage to cultural assets, regional prosecutor Yves Badorc told AFP. De Robertis was also charged with theft over the seizure of an embroidery work by French artist Annette Messager.

De Robertis said at the time she had organised the action, carried out by two other people, as part of a performance titled: "You Don't Separate the Woman from the Artist".

They sprayed the slogan MeToo on the works, using the viral slogan of women denouncing male sexual aggression in film and other cultural industries. "The Origin of the World" painting is kept behind a glass pane.

In an open letter, de Robertis denounced the behaviour of six men in the art world, describing them as "predators" and "censors". De Robertis had a work on show in the same Metz exhibition where "The Origin of the World" is being shown.

Two women suspected of carrying out the action had already been charged last month.

De Robertis is not in detention but under judicial control and banned from appearing at exhibitions or in the Moselle region.

All three women charged are also banned from contacting each other ahead of a possible trial.

Le Monde newspaper, which first reported the charges against de Robertis, had at the weekend run a lengthy feature on the artist saying her actions had "divided the art world".

France, home to some of the most iconic artworks in the world, has seen a spate of attacks on paintings in recent months, although most have been claimed by environmental activists.

French police on Saturday arrested a climate activist at the Musee d'Orsay after she stuck a red sheet to the "Coquelicots" (Poppy Field) impressionist work by Claude Monet and then glued her hands to the wall.