French art gallery denies entry to woman in low-cut dress, apologizes

When she goes low, the art gallery goes high (school).

A prominent French art gallery enforced a high school-like dress code against a woman wearing a low-cut dress Tuesday.

The woman, identified only as Jeanne, was initially denied entry to the Musee d’Orsay in Paris, she said in a letter posted to Twitter.

“Arriving at the entrance of the museum, I don’t have time to take out my ticket before the sight of my breasts and my appearance shocks an agent in charge of reservations,” Jeanne wrote, specifying that the agent was a woman.

“I asked what was going on but nobody replied. They stared at my breasts,” she added. “At no time did anyone say my breasts were a problem." Instead, Jeanne said security nodded in their general direction.

Unlike most high schools, the Musee d’Orsay features some of the world’s most well-known nude art, an ironic fact not lost on Jeanne.

“Inside: paintings of naked women, sculptures of naked women, artists advocating as well as engaging,” she wrote. She also said that other visitors wore revealing clothes.

Instead of sending her to the principal’s office, the Musee d’Orsay asked Jeanne to put on a jacket. She protested initially, but eventually decided to wear one and tour the museum with her friend.

“I do not want to put on my jacket because I feel beaten, obliged, ashamed. I have the impression that everyone is looking at my breasts,” she wrote. “I am not just my breasts, I am not just a body, your double standards will not be an obstacle to my access to culture and knowledge.”

The museum apologized in a tweet and then called Jeanne personally. Jeanne described the phone call apology as “very sincere.”