New York woman starts petition demanding The Met takes down a 1938 Balthus painting because it depicts the 'sexualization of a child'

  • Mia Merrill has started a petition to remove Thérèse Dreaming from the Metropolitan Museum of Art
  • The 1938 painting by Balthus depicts a girl sitting on a chair with her underwear exposed
  • She writes: 'The artist...had a noted infatuation with pubescent girls and this painting is undeniably romanticizing the sexualization of a child'
  • She said: 'Given the current climate around sexual assault...The Met is romanticizing voyeurism and the objectification of children'