This is a fact!
Pornhub launched its new “Show Me the Nudes” interactive website and app, teasing “Some people think of museums as boring, stuffy or dull. But what if we told you they housed a collection of priceless porn?”
The artworks featured by Pornhub are from the world’s most famous museums — the National Gallery in London, the Uffizi in Florence, Italy, the Prado in Madrid, and the Louvre and Musee d’Orsay in Paris.
Many of Pornhub’s depictions feature live porn actors. For example, in Venus of Urbino—a centerpiece of the Uffizi Gallery in Florence—Venus will suddenly start masturbating and, in the depiction of Male Nude, Degas’ celebrated painting featured at the Met evolves quickly into … use your imagination.
Image Source: britannica.com
But Pornhub doesn’t just seek to titillate. Accompanying each work of art is some serious, but entertaining, commentary:
“The rumpled sheets [in Venus of Urbino] are supposed to make this untouchable goddess of love feel like flesh and blood—and pretty much as scruffy as we are,” the explanation reads. “Also, the fact that this Venus is so nonchalant about displaying all the godly goods—despite the room being weirdly busy for a spot of naked lounging—gives the scene an extra erotic charge.”
Image Source: dailybeast.com
But these famous museums aren’t laughing. Both the Louvre and Uffizi say they are suing Pornhub for rights infringements, demanding they remove reproductions of the artworks displayed in their museums.
According to the Uffizi, “In Italy, the cultural heritage code provides that in order to use images of a museum, compressed works for commercial purposes, it is necessary to have the permission, which regulates the methods and sets the relative fee to be paid. All this obviously if the museum grants the authorization which, for example, would hardly have been issued in this case.” However, it’s not clear whether or how Italy’s law applies to foreign companies like Pornhub.
Musee D’Orsay in Paris Image Source: tripsavvy.com
The creators of these artworks are long dead … in most cases by hundreds of years. The museums have no “copyright” ownership of these works of art. Should they control or profit from usage of reproductions of the artwork?
What do you think? Will Pornhub’s new feature revive your interest in these classic works of art? Should any company be able to use these images for commercial profit?
