(C) BoingBoing
This story was originally published by BoingBoing and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .



Parents may pay repair bill after kid scratches a $50 million Rothko painting [1]

['Mark Frauenfelder']

Date: 2025-04-28

A child scratched a Mark Rothko painting worth worth over $50 million at a museum in Rotterdam, reported the BBC. A spokesperson from the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen said the toddler-inflicted vandalism happened during an "unguarded moment."

Damage was limited to "small scratches," which are "visible in the unvarnished paint layer in the lower part of the painting,"said the spokesperson. "It happened because a child, in an unsupervised moment, touched the lower part of the work."

The 1960 painting, Grey, Orange on Maroon, No. 8, is one of two paintings in the Netherlands by Rothko (1903-1970), who specialized in "floating color field" canvases.

The museum said, "We are currently investigating, in collaboration with experts, what the next steps for treatment are. We expect that the work can be shown again in the future."

The parents could be in for a steep repair bill, "While the museum does not want to make any statements about the bill," reported the Times of London, "it is generally the rule that costs are recovered from visitors who cause damage." For example, "In 2011 the museum had problems with a 4-14m installation called Peanut Butter Platform by Wim T Schippers. Unsuspecting visitors stepped in the thick layer of peanut butter smeared on the gallery floor at least three times. They were given a clean-up bill."

This sounds a lot like the scammers who set art prints on the sidewalk and demand money when people step on one.

Previously:

• Exquisite Rothko masterpiece sold for bargain price of $46.5 million

• Watch: 'Why is Modern Art so Bad?'

[END]
---
[1] Url: https://boingboing.net/2025/04/28/parents-may-pay-repair-bill-after-kid-scratches-a-50-million-rothko-painting.html

Published and (C) by BoingBoing
Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0.

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/boingboing/

You are viewing proxied material from magical.fish. The copyright of proxied material belongs to its original authors. Any comments or complaints in relation to proxied material should be directed to the original authors of the content concerned. Please see the disclaimer for more details.