The Modern Museum in Stockholm is being involved in an interesting plagiarism case. The artist Markus Andersson has painted a picture containing an image of Christer Pettersson. This image seems to be based upon a photograph taken by Jonas Lemberg. The photographer has demanded that the picture be removed from its exhibition at the Modern Museum.

The Modern Museum states it will not remove the picture and also defends Markus Andersson by stating he has used his right to quote other works (citaträtten). This right to quote other works has been discussed in Sweden and when it refers to works of art it is legitimate only (1) if it is a newspaper reporting on current events, or (2) that it is carried out in a critical or academic setting. At first glance it would seem that the right to quote does not adequately help unless the artist can claim that he is conducting a critical, academic (whatever that would mean in this situation) debate.

A news article from Dagens Nyheter (in Swedish) contains both the photo and the painting.

What I find very interesting is the fact that the discussion is focused on plagiarism and not copyright violation. Legally the question is one of copyright violation. Therefore the question is one of whether copyright violation becomes the more plagiarism when it involves the higher cultural institutions?

Footnote on the image: “Christer Pettersson (April 23, 1947 – September 29, 2004) was a suspect in the assassination of Olof Palme, the Prime Minister of Sweden. He was tried and acquitted in Swedish court, although Palme’s widow insisted that he was the man she saw commit the crime.” (From Wikipedia)