Cecilia Giménez Dies at 94: The Humble Hands Behind the World’s Most Famous Failed Restoration
Cecilia Giménez, whose well-intentioned brushstrokes on a Spanish church fresco birthed the viral “Monkey Christ,” has died at 94.
Borja, Spain—The woman who turned a 19th-century fresco of Christ into a global internet punchline has quietly left the world she once scandalized. Cecilia Giménez, 94, died Tuesday evening in her hometown, her family confirmed Wednesday.
The Painting That Refused to Die
In 2012, Giménez, then an 81-year-old retired hairdresser, walked into the Sanctuary of Mercy with a small pot of oil paint and a vision: she would fix the flaking fresco on the church wall. The result—Jesus with a startled lemur’s face—was branded the “Monkey Christ.”
From Villain to Reluctant Celebrity
Within hours, photos of her botched brushstrokes ricocheted across Reddit, BuzzFeed, and late-night TV. Locals wanted her fined. Art critics wanted her head. Then the tourists arrived.
“We sold 50,000 postcards the first year,” says Borja mayor José Manuel Argente. “Cecilia put us on the map.”
A Town That Learned to Laugh
The church collected more than €200,000 in donations—enough to fund a senior center and a food bank. Giménez, embarrassed but gracious, signed autographs and donated her cut to charity.
- 2014: The restored fresco becomes the centerpiece of the annual Festival of Mercy.
- 2016: A Madrid gallery hosts a solo show of Giménez’s later, more cautious landscapes.
- 2020: Netflix optioned her life rights for a tragicomedy; the project remains in development.
Final Years
Neighbors remember her tending roses behind the same church she once defaced. She joked that the thorns kept her humble. In a 2022 interview she said, “I only wanted to help. I never imagined the whole world would laugh.”
Giménez is survived by two sons, five grandchildren, and a town that finally forgave the error that paid its bills.