The 'Dirty Corner' sculpture, also known as The Queen's Vagina at the Palace of Versailles near Paris. Kamil Zihnioglu / AP Kamil Zihnioglu / AP / AP

VANDALS HAVE SPRAYED paint on a controversial sculpture in the grounds of the Palace of Versailles that has become known as the “queen’s vagina.”

Damage to the work ‘Dirty Corner’ was discovered this morning. It was lightly sprayed with paint but is being cleaned,” the estate’s management said today.

The steel-and-rock abstract sculpture resembles a funnel in the form of an orifice, and is set up in the garden aimed directly at the royal chateau, which attracts five million tourists a year.

It measures 60 metres (200 feet) in length, and 10 metres (33 feet) in height.

Inside the palace itself is a smaller work, a cannon that fires red wax at white walls, symbolising a phallus and an ejaculation of blood.

Some French media outlets have expressed unease at the level of provocation unleashed by British-Indian sculptor Anish Kapoor, who has described the piece as “the vagina of a queen who is taking power.”

However he later said that viewers can interpret it as they like.

“A work has multiple interpretive possibilities,” Kapoor said.

What I am doing here is kind of taking the surface of [renowned French landscape designer] Le Notre’s ordered garden and looking inside.

Inevitably, one comes across the body, our bodies and a certain level of sexuality. But it is certainly not the only thing it is about.

Contains reporting by AFP.

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