The Robbery at the Louvre is a Lesson on Hubris

“A woman caresses the ‘Sleeping Hermaphroditus’ sculpture, 1980” via L’Officiel

The Louvre was robbed. It took less than eight minutes to remove what France held in infamy for centuries. The country has a history of stealing, and the theft left the country a bit scandalized. Some historians were heartbroken, but many casual observers thought the museum and the country got what they deserved.

In the days that followed, it was clear that the Louvre had already been aware of its poor security. The jewels, being invaluable, were not insured. Security in museums maintains the integrity of the visuals. They ensure that the oils from our hands aren’t aging the paintings, that the flash from our cameras doesn’t cause pigments to fade, and that jewel thieves don’t get away with royal crowns.

Nevertheless, France was embarrassed as the world looked on.

The obvious irony is that the French took ownership of many of their art pieces because they simply wanted to. The art’s creativity was its attraction, and its belonging to someone else was the allure. It was a symbol of dominance and of strength. It reminded the world that France was the winner. Napoleon Bonaparte wanted the Louvre to be a center of genius, and it was his goal to put on display “the greatest masterpieces of art.” He employed violence to take what he wanted in order to do so, and in so doing, he acknowledged the beauty and mastery of the conquered and implied that part of France’s greatness lay in its ability to possess the creations of others.

Now, when jewels have been stolen and they have yet to be retrieved, France’s past and the story of the creation of the Louvre continue to work against their claims for sympathy. The robbery at the Louvre reminds us that the person who has the power is the person who chooses to take it. The concept isn’t inconsequential, but it is curious to see how institutions respond to the same act that made them famous in the first place.

The Louvre holds stolen artifacts from Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and South America. Art has been the spoils of war–looted, taken, won, however you put it, it has been a means to dominate another’s culture by taking it, admitting to its beauty, rarely giving it back, and then putting it on display for others to gawk at in a twisted display of flattery.

The museum unveiled plans to increase prices for tourists and work on a different entrance. But they did not take the necessary precautions to keep their property safe. Instead, they spent it on additional works of art to store for use sometime in the future.

See what was taken in the Louvre Heist

Looting by any other name is just as wrong

But it’s a little sweet. The Internet made it known that the French should seek empathy elsewhere. Influencers were clear about the irony of the Louvre decrying theft when their coffers were full of the ill-gotten “genius” of other nations.

How poetic is it that the Louvre continues to focus on the superficial despite being one of the most visited museums in the world, and that that focus is what caused it to be the victim of this robbery? All that glitters is not gold.

The robbery at the Louvre can present itself as an exhibit on theft, virtue, ethics or morality, but it is mostly an example that institutions who have built their reputation on esteem, on a concept that their approaches to business are superior, that their society works because their work ethic is unmatched, have shown us that they are adorned in the most majestic of invisible fabrics. They are wearing the emperor’s new clothes.

Fantasies about their eliteness are concocted and manufactured by the people with the most power–those who are willing to use violence to their means, but not willing, centuries later, to build a foundation to ensure items don’t get taken the same way. Their priorities continue to be about beauty, hegemony, and aesthetics alone.

The linear nature of this theft–theft begets theft–is a reminder that institutions that are held in high esteem are reputable only by the nature of their own making and marketing.