Lars Endel Roger Vilks (20 June 1946 – 3 October 2021)[1] was a Swedish visual artist and activist who was known for the controversy surrounding his drawings of Muhammad.

[5] In 1980, Vilks created two sculptures, Nimis and Arx, the former made entirely of drift wood and the latter of concrete and rock, in the Kullaberg nature reserve in Höganäs, Skåne.

One of the few works of Vilks to be incorporated into a collection is the concrete sculpture Omphalos, measuring 1.6 meters (5 ft 3 in) high and weighing one tonne, which is owned by Moderna Museet after it was first bought by fellow artist Ernst Billgren for 10 000 Swedish kronor.

[11] Indeed, he depicted Christ as a pedophile, as a reference to the scandal in the Catholic church, and also drew a grotesque caricature of "a modern Jew swollen by capitalism".

[7] In 2007, Vilks caused an international controversy when he depicted Muhammad as a roundabout dog in three drawings, designated to be shown at an art exhibition at Tällerud, in July of the same year.

Shortly before its opening, the organizers canceled their invitation with reference to serious security concerns, and despite Vilks' effort no other Swedish art gallery offered to exhibit his drawings.

Following this controversy, Vilks was forced to live under police protection after having received several death threats, including a statement by the al-Qaeda-affiliated Islamic State of Iraq which offered up to $150,000 for his assassination.

Three U.S. citizens, Colleen LaRose ("Jihad Jane"), Mohammad Hassas Khalid, and Jamie Paulin Ramirez, participated in the plot.

Police officers close to the investigation said those arrested were foreign-born Irish residents, mostly from Yemen and Morocco and had refugee status.

[26] The Irish police added that throughout the investigation they had been "working closely with law enforcement agencies in the United States and in a number of European countries".

In the video, a Swedish speaking voice appeals to "all the Somali brothers and sisters" in Sweden, to leave that country and come to Somalia to fight for Al-Shabaab.

[34][35][36] In 2013, the list was expanded to include Stéphane "Charb" Charbonnier, who the Lars Vilks committee awarded their freedom prize to in 2014.

[39][41] Following the Charlie Hebdo attack, Vilks said that fewer organizations were inviting him to give lectures amid increased security concerns.

[42] At an event called Art, blasphemy and the freedom of expression, which was organized by Vilks at the Krudttønden café[43][44] in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 14 February 2015, an attack by a Muslim extremist with semi automatic gunfire, as a result of Vilks' drawings, left film director Finn Nørgaard dead and three police officers wounded.

Participants at the event included speaker Niels Ivar Larsen and organizer Helle Merete Brix, the latter described the attack as having been targeted at Vilks.