Child damages €50m Rothko in ‘unguarded moment' at museum
A child has damaged a Rothko painting worth up to €50 million during an 'unguarded moment' at a Dutch museum.
Grey, Orange on Maroon, No. 8, a huge abstract piece created by the modern artist Mark Rothko in 1960, will require professional restoration after being scratched by a child when no one was watching at the Boijmans Van Beuningen museum in Rotterdam.
The museum said: 'Rothko's work has sustained damage: a number of visible scratches in the unvarnished paint layer. It was caused by a child who scratched the underside of the work in an unguarded moment.'
• Behind the scenes with painting SOS
Despite the painting being one of the museum's most popular and valuable works of art, the child escaped the attention
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