A debate has erupted in Denmark over the fate of a mermaid statue that is to be removed from public view after being decried as “ugly and pornographic” and “a man’s hot dream of what a woman should look like”.
The Danish agency for palaces and culture is reportedly removing the 4×6 metre Den Store Havfrue (the Big Mermaid) from Dragør Fort, part of Copenhagen’s former sea fortifications, because it does not align with the cultural heritage of the 1910 landmark.
Politiken’s art critic, Mathias Kryger, has branded the statue “ugly and pornographic”. Sorine Gotfredsen, a priest and journalist, wrote in the 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.”
She added: “It’s truly uplifting that many find the statue vulgar, unpoetic, and undesirable, because we’re suffocating in overbearing bodies in public space.”
The man behind the 14-tonne sculpture, Peter Bech, has said he does not understand the criticism, saying that the stone figure’s breasts are simply “of a proportional size” to its scale.
Others have said the criticism reflects society’s attitudes to women’s bodies more generally – and not in a good way. For Aminata Corr Thrane, Berlingske’s debate editor, the scrutiny of the mermaid’s breasts was tantamount to body shaming.
“Do naked female breasts have to have a specific academic shape and size to be allowed to appear in public?” she wrote.
Noting that the Big Mermaid was “arguably a bit less naked” than her famed petite contemporary in bronze and granite, the Little Mermaid, Corr Thrane added: “On the other hand, she has bigger breasts, and that’s probably where the problem lies.”
She added: “Perhaps the two statues – the Big and the Little Mermaid – represent two sides of woman, and the eternal tug of war about what a real woman is. And perhaps even what a wrong woman is.”
In 2006 the Big Mermaid was erected at Langelinie Pier in Copenhagen, near the Little Mermaid. But it was removed in 2018 after locals denounced it as “the fake and vulgar mermaid”.
It was subsequently moved to Dragør Fort, until the Danish agency for palaces and culture intervened in March, requesting its removal. Dragør municipality has since reportedly declined Bech’s offer of donating it as a gift.
Helle Barth, chair of Dragør muncipality’s climate, urban and business committee, told Berligske that although it was a nice offer, “it’s just hard to fit in. It takes up a lot of space.”
Bech, who has said he made the statue in response to tourists’ comments that the Little Mermaid – inspired by the Hans Christian Andersen fairytale – was too small, has said he is often told by people in Dragør that they love his sculpture. He is hoping to find a way to keep it in the town.
The Danish agency for palaces and culture declined to comment.
