So now there’s evidence that modern art was used as a torture device in Spain during the Civil War. John Rockwell ponders the ability of art to provoke a strong reaction. “A subcurrent of shock and provocation has always lurked within avant-garde art, which deliberately sets out to challenge bourgeois convention and to elicit a strong response. My own experience has been that opponents of new art are much too quick to presume provocation, let alone provocation intended literally to torture. Still, there can be no doubt that outrage was and is a goal of some artists.”