The National Museum in Warsaw on Monday walked back its decision to remove an artwork showing a young woman suggestively eating a banana after critics accused the museum of censorship.



The 1973 video by Polish artist Natalia LL was taken down last week, prompting a viral social media campaign in which people took photos of themselves eating bananas. On Monday, around a hundred people gathered in front of the museum to eat bananas in protest against the museum's decision.

The banana protest in #Warsaw in front of the National Museum is just over. This is how it looked like. pic.twitter.com/zzfL5xb7kN Philipp Fritz (@phil_ipp_fritz) 29 avril 2019

Yesterday: protesting the National Museum of Warsaw removing 'obscene' artworks by seductively eating a banana outside the RadCam #BananaSelfie pic.twitter.com/Oeqoletanv samson ???? (@hotdamson) 30 avril 2019

Many artists and politicians posted so-called “banana selfies" online. Sylwia Kowalczyk, a Polish-born photographer who now lives in Scotland, denounced what she called a "new era of censorship led by the Polish government”.

Actress Magdalena Cielecka told the AP news agency that she posted a banana selfie to denounce the political and ideological constraints that many artists face. "An artist, to create, must be free,” she said.

Michal Szczerba, a member of the centrist Civic Platform party, said the public response was a “small success in the fight against artistic censorship”.



The video, titled "Consumer Art," and a second work by Katarzyna Kozyra depicting a woman walking two men on leashes were both returned to the museum's 20th and 21st century galleries on Monday.



But they will not be there long. Museum director Jerzy Miziolek said the works would be on display until May 6, when the entire modern art wing will be reorganised.



Miziolek, who was recently appointed to his post by the conservative government, had previously told the Polish news site Onet.pl that the works were removed because they could could "irritate sensitive young people". Miziolek denied that political pressure had influenced the decision to remove the works.