Someone Spray Painted Homer Simpson All Over the MFA’s Exterior

Photo by Steve Annear

Officials from the Museum of Fine Arts are investigating after they discovered spray painted images of Homer Simpson and other graffiti on the exterior walls of the building, as well as on the base of the statue that greets visitors at the main entrance.

A groundskeeper who asked not to be identified said she was “bummed” when she walked around the art museum on Friday morning and found the graffiti, which included phrases like “tell the truth” and Homer images of Simpson’s face, on the outside of the Japanese Garden, the front and back entrance to the gallery, as well as on the foundation of a prominent statue, called “Appeal to the Great Spirit,” which depicts a Native American riding atop a horse that welcomes guests coming in from Huntington Avenue. The actual statue was not damaged.

“We have seen little things here and there but nothing to this extent. Behind the [Native American] statue, it’s pretty extensive,” she said, adding that she hadn’t seen anything like this happen in the fours years that she has been managing the property. “I’m bummed, and the community inside is just, like, ‘wow.’ It’s really too bad.”

By late afternoon Friday, a spokesperson from the museum said the graffiti was being cleaned off of the property. The security company that runs the museum’s surveillance cameras had also been notified, and officials confirmed they were working with the Boston Police to look into the matter.

Besides the bronze statue’s base, the graffiti was found on four corners of the building, along the back steps and near the doorway of the Fenway entrance, and on a front-facing wall along Huntington Avenue.

The graffiti was done in black and gold spray paint, and similar images of Homer Simpson’s face were in each spot.

East Boston resident Michael Campbell, who drops his kids off twice a day to attend art classes at the museum, said he didn’t see the graffiti there on Thursday night, and was disappointed to arrive Friday to see that it had marked the large statue’s platform at the main entrance.

“It’s ridiculous,” he said. “Even if—I’m totally against graffiti—but if you have to do it, there are plenty of other blank walls that are unattractive to put your graffiti on rather than someone else’s artwork.”

Campbell said it was “absurd” and sends a bad message to the kids coming in to take summer courses.