A French scientist was convinced that gorillas had an artistic spirit, and chose one of the most intelligent of a local zoo’s captive animals to perform an curious experiment - to see if he could teach her to express herself through art. He brought her paint and canvas, and each day entered the grey cage to patiently demonstrate how paint could be applied, colors mixed, texture formed. He demonstrated shape and subject, while the gorilla watched him bemused but uninspired. The man painted bananas, clouds, balloons, and even a portrait of the gorilla. He offered the gorilla crayons, tried to put a paintbrush in her hands, and finally tried putting paint on the animal’s fingers but she would not touch the tableau. After several days of coaxing, frustration got the better of him, and he stomped out his cigarette and gave up in a huff.

But in his elevated state he forgot his paint and canvases behind the thick metal bars. When he returned to get them the next day, the paints had been ejected from the pole-bar enclosure and all of the canvas had been torn up except for one. The portrait of the gorilla remained, but with a smouldering butt she had drawn vertical grey lines over the image.

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