dealers, Salle  has historically borrowed images from popular culture, advertising, art, his own photographs, and other sources to create his own interpretations on canvas, continuing a long tradition of artists drawing from the past and from one another. In turn, his works have been used by other artists without his permission. 

The dealers added that Salle acknowledged his use of Reemtsen's image had  restarted a decades-long dialogue about authorship for new audiences  and said Hatchet had been removed from view  out of respect to both artists. 

A central piece of Reemtsen's lawsuit is an email Salle allegedly sent Reemtsen in March, following media coverage of the controversy. In it, he wrote that there had been  internet chatter  about a painting of his  that incorporates an image from one of yours,  adding that he had discovered her work online and  admired it very much.  Reemtsen claims that the email is an admission that Salle copied her work.

The complaint further alleges that the controversy  was both harmful to her existing professional relationships in the art world, and took energy and focus away from her own professional obligations,  adding that the resulting exposure  substantially and materially harmed her existing relationships with her own clients. 

In a statement, Reemtsen's attorney, Matthew Swanlund, described the lawsuit as an effort  to protect the integrity of Kelly Reemtsen's original artworks and the rights granted to artists under federal copyright law.  Swanlund said Reemtsen  takes the protection of her rights very seriously  and that litigation became necessary only after the dispute  could not be resolved in a manner that adequately protected  her artworks and legal rights.

Salle did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication. Sprüth Magers, which is not a defendant in the lawsuit, declined to comment, noting that the lawsuit was still pending.