“An art student visiting New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art recently toppled over in front of Pablo Picasso’s The Actor and tore a 6in hole in it. The painting, worth about £80m, has already been taken away to be restored and is thought to be fully repairable.”

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“In 2007 a painting by US artist Cy Twombly was smeared with lipstick after a woman, claiming to be “so overcome with passion”, gave it a rather vigorous snog. She was arrested and charged with criminal damage after staff intervened at the Collection Lambert museum in Avignon, France but told baffled press she was “just trying to warm up” the pristine white canvas.”

Reuters

“In 1996 a 22-year-old Toronto art student vomited over Piet Mondrian’s Composition with Red and Blue which was hanging in New York’s Museum of Modern Art. Despite gallery officials dismissing it as “an unfortunate incident” the student, Jubal Brown, said he intentionally defaced the painting. He later consumed red food colouring and gave a repeat performance all over a work by Raoul Dufy at the Art Gallery of Ontario.”

Eyestorm

“Damien Hirst’s 2001 exhibition of Painting-By-Numbers was mistakenly sabotaged when the installation of empty beer-bottles, messy paint tins and overflowing ashtrays was cleared away by an enthusiastic cleaner. The work was later retrieved from the bin and Hirst said reportedly saw the funny side.”

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“In 1997 Russian performance artist Alexander Davidovic Brener (whose previous work included defecating in front of a painting by Vincent Van Gogh) was arrested and then jailed for painting a green dollar sign on a painting by Kazimir Malevich called Suprematisme. He argued in court that the act was “a dialogue with Malevich” rather than vandalism.”

-View the rest at The Independent

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