@jhludwig: This should get it done as a temporary workaround. I'll leave this case open as a feature request to get the general case shapes.remove(shape) capability built.

[NarenZen]

@jhludwig: This should get it done as a temporary workaround. I'll leave this case open as a feature request to get the general case shapes.remove(shape) capability built.

Let me know how you go :)

from pptx import Presentation
from pptx.oxml import qn

def image_part_rId(picture):
    """
    Return relationship id, e.g. 'rId9' corresponding to the image part
    referenced by the picture shape *picture*.
    """
    blip_elm = picture._element.blipFill[qn('a:blip')]
    return blip_elm.get(qn('r:embed'))

def remove_picture(slide, picture):
    """
    Remove *picture* shape from *slide*.
    """
    # remove relationship to image part
    rId = image_part_rId(picture)
    remove_rel_with_rId(slide, rId)
    # remove <pic> element
    pic_elm = picture._element
    spTree = pic_elm.getparent()
    spTree.remove(pic_elm)
    # remove picture from shapes
    slide.shapes._values.remove(picture)

def remove_rel_with_rId(slide, rId):
    """
    Remove the relationship identified by *rId* from *slide*.
    """
    # get relationships list
    rels = slide._relationships._values
    # delete relationship with matching rId
    for rel in rels:
        if rel._rId == rId:
            rels.remove(rel)
            break

prs = Presentation('contains_picture.pptx')
slide = prs.slides[0]
picture = slide.shapes[0]

remove_picture(slide, picture)

prs.save('out.pptx')

Originally posted by @scanny in https://github.com/scanny/python-pptx/issues/41#issuecomment-25602677