Artistic Scandals and Moral Panics

The première of Oscar Wilde's "Salomé" scheduled for 1896 in Paris was banned when authorities realized Sarah Bernhardt would perform the title role. The play's combination of biblical themes, sexual perversion, and Wilde's recent imprisonment for homosexuality created perfect scandal. The ban's reversal in 1907 showed changing attitudes, though the production still shocked with its decadent sexuality.

The Moulin Rouge's can-can scandals regularly erupted when dancers lifted skirts too high or authorities decided to enforce long-ignored regulations. The 1893 arrest of entire chorus lines created publicity bonanzas. Dancers paid fines cheerfully, knowing scandal increased their market value. The cycle of transgression, punishment, and profit epitomized Belle Époque's commercialized morality.

Colette's music hall performances with her female lover Mathilde de Morny (who dressed as a man and called herself "Missy") caused riots. Their onstage kiss in "Rêve d'Égypte" at the Moulin Rouge in 1907 provoked fights between supporters and opponents. Police banned future performances, but publicity made Colette's literary career. Scandal proved profitable for those managing it skillfully.

The futurist artist Valentine de Saint-Point's "Métachorie" performances combined dance, poetry, and mathematical concepts in ways critics found incomprehensible and therefore scandalous. Her "Futurist Manifesto of Lust" advocating free love and female desire violated every propriety. Yet audiences packed her performances, scandal creating its own attraction.