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Though vandalism in itself is illegal, it is often also an integral part of modern popular culture.

French painter Gustave Courbet's attempt to disassemble the Vendôme column during the 1871 Paris Commune was probably one of the first artistic vandalist acts, celebrated at least since Dada performances during World War I.

The Vendôme column was considered a symbol of the recently-deposed Second Empire of Napoleon III, and dismantled as such.