Museum Mishaps
A gallery of blunders — the tourists, toddlers, cleaners, and champagne corks that met priceless art and lost.
WatchSissi Belle: 9yr old Anti-Establishment "Rebel Girl"
A father defended his daughter's decision to climb onto a multimillion-dollar Donald Judd sculpture as "anti-establishment". The Tate Modern was less impressed.
WatchThe Little Brats and The Large Glass
Artist Shelly Xue embraces the mishap
WatchThe Hug That Cost $132,000
A five-year-old, a glass Aphrodite, and a very expensive embrace
During a wedding reception, a five-year-old boy wrapped his arms around Bill Lyons' six-foot glass sculpture 'Aphrodite di Kansas City'. Seconds later it tipped forward and shattered beyond repair.
Who's Afraid of a Red, Yellow and Boxcutter
The painting vandalized, restored, and then vandalized by its own restoration
Dutch painter Gerard Jan van Bladeren slashed Barnett Newman's monumental 'Who's Afraid of Red, Yellow and Blue III' dozens of times — and its controversial restoration was later attacked as more damaging than the knife.
The Pine Cone vs. the Floating Boulder
Surrealism undone by one of nature's smallest projectiles
A young visitor reportedly carried a pine cone in from the museum garden and accidentally punctured René Magritte's 'The Castle of the Pyrenees', one of Surrealism's most celebrated images.
Serial Vandal Meets the Renaissance
Five centuries survived, one afternoon nearly undid
In April 1988 a serial vandal Hans-Joachim Bolhmann hurled sulfuric acid at Albrecht Dürer's 'Mater Dolorosa', a central panel of the Seven Sorrows Polyptych, permanently damaging parts of the 500-year-old work.
When the Art Became Lunch
A conceptual installation meets an unscripted appetite
During an exhibition of Nick Dwyer's installation 'Shadow Searching: ChatGPT Psychosis', a fellow student reportedly consumed part of the artwork — turning a conceptual piece into his own hungry performance.
The Princess, the Madonna, and a Wild Water Fight
One visitor, two centuries-old paintings, several soaked conservators
A 19-year-old man allegedly hurled water at two centuries-old paintings — Ingres' 'The Princesse de Broglie' and Girolamo dai Libri's 'Madonna and Child with Saints' — and tore tapestries from the walls during a bizarre outburst at the Met.
When Columbus Met Climate Activism
Biodegradable red paint finds a monumental canvas
Two activists from Futuro Vegetal threw biodegradable red paint at José Garnelo's 1892 'First Tribute to Christopher Columbus' before unfurling banners protesting Spain's National Day.
Pink Paint and a Canadian Masterpiece
A quiet Impressionist scene caught in a global argument
A protester from Last Generation Canada threw bright pink paint toward Helen McNicoll's 'Sunny September', declaring the aim was not to destroy art but to protect the future it represents.
Two Thousand Years, One Bad Afternoon
A leap into the pit that guarded an emperor
A man climbed the barriers and jumped nearly six metres into an excavation pit at Xi'an, pushing and pulling the ancient clay soldiers and damaging at least two before guards subdued him.
Thirty Works Destroyed Overnight
An exhibition on female identity, silenced with spray paint
Vandals broke into photographer Kamille Lévêque Jégo's exhibition 'Cyprine Benzin' overnight, destroying more than thirty photographs and videos and covering the walls with crude graffiti.
A Member of Parliament Walks Into a Museum
Art criticism delivered by broken glass
Greek MP Nikos Papadopoulos allegedly tore four framed works by Christophoros Katsadiotis from the walls of an Athens exhibition, shattering their glass, objecting to depictions he considered blasphemous.
The Warhol Mistaken for Rubbish
A masterpiece lost not to thieves, but to a skip
A rare Andy Warhol silkscreen of Queen Beatrix, part of the 'Reigning Queens' series, was most likely thrown out with construction debris during town-hall renovations and destroyed at a waste facility.
Please Don't Step in the Peanut Butter
When 'look, don't touch' meets 1,000 litres of lunch
Wim T. Schippers' 'Peanut Butter Platform' — more than 1,000 litres of peanut butter spread across a gallery floor — was left unbarriered, and four visitors promptly stepped straight into it.
Moretto's Double Disaster
One stumble, two damaged paintings
A visitor lost her footing and punched a hand clean through a double-sided sixteenth-century processional banner by the Renaissance master Moretto — damaging both painted faces at once.
The Man Who Punched a Monet
An argument with Impressionism, settled with a fist
A man punched Claude Monet's 'Argenteuil Basin with a Single Sailboat', tearing a hole through the canvas — later claiming he was protesting the European Union's influence on Ireland.
No Cheese, Gromit
A monarch briefly replaced by a claymation inventor
Weeks after King Charles III's official portrait was unveiled, two activists pasted an image of Wallace over the King's face and a speech bubble reading 'No cheese, Gromit. Look at all this cruelty on RSPCA farms!'
Fewer Seasons Left to Paint
Climate change arrives at the Musée d'Orsay
An activist adhered a printed image of Monet's 'Poppy Field' transformed by a warmer climate onto its protective glazing, then glued a hand to the gallery wall.
When Vandalism Became Performance Art
'ME TOO' written across a scandalous masterpiece
During a Jacques Lacan exhibition, artist Deborah De Robertis and collaborators wrote 'ME TOO' in red marker across Courbet's 'The Origin of the World' and targeted works by Louise Bourgeois and others.
The Sculpture Everyone Insisted Wasn't a Christmas Tree
A festive intention, an unfestive silhouette, a cut cable
Paul McCarthy's inflatable 'Tree' — widely compared to a sex toy — sparked outrage, an assault on the artist, and finally the cutting of its support cables, collapsing the work.
Soup Season
A springtime Monet meets a container of soup
Two activists from Riposte Alimentaire threw soup onto the protective glass of Monet's 'Le Printemps', demanding stronger action on climate and food security.
Climate Activists Meet the Goddess
Photographs of a flood, taped to the glass of a masterpiece
Activists from Ultima Generazione attached photographs of the 2023 Tuscan floods to the protective glass over Botticelli's 'The Birth of Venus', calling for action on climate disasters.
The Mona Lisa Eats Soup
The world's most famous painting, the world's favourite protest target
Two activists from Riposte Alimentaire hurled pumpkin soup at the Mona Lisa's protective glass, demanding a 'healthy and sustainable food system'. The bulletproof glazing shrugged it off.
A Painting Under Siege
Three attacks, spread across the twentieth century
Rembrandt's 'The Night Watch' has been knifed (1911), slashed with a bread knife into dozens of zigzag cuts (1975), and sprayed with sulfuric acid (1990) — surviving all three.
Chocolate, Politics, and a Rothko
One act of vandalism inspires another
Days after Vladimir Umanets defaced a Rothko at Tate Modern, performance artist Jubilee Brown scrawled his name across another Rothko, 'Black on Maroon', using paint mixed with chocolate.
She Kiss the Art and She Liked it
An 'act of love' the French courts declined to forgive
Artist Rindy Sam kissed Cy Twombly's near-white 'Phaedrus', leaving a lipstick mark that required conservation. She called it an act of love; the court called it damage.
WatchCattelan Banana too Tempting for Hungy Student
When lunch became performance art
Days after Maurizio Cattelan's 'Comedian' — a banana duct-taped to a wall — debuted, performance artist David Datuna peeled it off and ate it in front of stunned visitors.
A Ballerina Meets Climate Protest
Paint on the case, but not on the wax
A climate activist in a fluorescent vest smeared red and black paint over Degas' 'Little Dancer Aged Fourteen' — but the sculpture sat safely inside a sealed display case.
Glue, Soup, and Vermeer
One of the defining images of the museum-protest era
One activist glued his head to the protective glass of Vermeer's 'Girl with a Pearl Earring' while another poured tomato soup over him.
Gauguin Gets Caked
A red velvet cake nobody ordered
A woman smeared a freshly baked red velvet cake across the protective glass of Gauguin's 'Two Tahitian Women', declaring the artwork 'evil'.
One Selfie, Three Priceless Vases
A backward step with a very forward camera
A visitor backing into a display pedestal to take a selfie toppled a stand holding three delicate Qing dynasty ceramic vessels. All three shattered.
Fingering Fontana
A hole in exactly the wrong place
Lucio Fontana became famous for making slashes in canvases — which has not stopped visitors from repeatedly poking their fingers through the cuts to investigate, damaging the works further.
The Student Who Got Stuck in a Giant Vagina
A dare, a sculpture, and one very awkward rescue
A 20-year-old exchange student climbed inside Fernando de la Jara's monumental stone sculpture 'Pi-Chacan' for a dare photo and became wedged — requiring 22 firefighters to free him.
WatchThe Tourist Who Sat on the Crystal Chair
A photo op, a crunch, and a $60,000 lesson in signage
A visitor lowered himself onto Nicola Bolla's Swarovski-crystal-encrusted 'Van Gogh' chair to strike a pose. The chair, which was art and not furniture, promptly gave way beneath him.
A Child, a Canvas, and a Very Bad Afternoon
When a small fist meets a large price tag
Every guard's nightmare: an unsupervised child, a moment of momentum, and a hole punched clean through a priceless modern painting.
The Visitor Who Fell Into a Picasso
An art class, a stumble, and a six-inch tear
During an adult education class at the Met, a woman lost her balance and fell directly into Picasso's 'The Actor', opening a six-inch tear in the lower canvas.
The Bored Guard Who Gave a Painting Eyes
First day on the job, ballpoint pen, avant-garde masterpiece
On his very first day, a security guard grew bored and drew two pairs of eyes in ballpoint pen on the faceless figures of Anna Leporskaya's avant-garde painting 'Three Figures'.
The Cleaner Who Binned the Art
One person's installation is another's mess
A diligent cleaner scrubbed away a carefully applied patina from a Martin Kippenberger installation, mistaking the artwork for a dirty stain — a recurring hazard of conceptual art.
Ecce Mono: The Monkey Christ
The world's most beloved botched restoration
Well-meaning parishioner Cecilia Giménez attempted to touch up a flaking fresco of Christ and produced 'Ecce Mono' — a hazy, simian visage that became a global sensation.
WatchThe $200,000 Selfie Domino
One crouch, one wobble, one very expensive chain reaction
A visitor crouched for a photo beside a row of crown-topped pedestals, lost her balance, and set off a domino collapse down the entire line of sculptures.
The Shattered Balloon Dog
A tap, a wobble, and a pile of blue porcelain
A collector at a Miami art fair gave Jeff Koons's porcelain 'Balloon Dog (Blue)' an inquisitive tap. It wobbled off its pedestal and shattered into a heap of shards.
The Vase Smashed in Protest
An artist who dropped an urn, and a protester who dropped his
Local artist Maximo Caminero picked up and deliberately smashed one of Ai Weiwei's painted Han Dynasty vases in protest at the museum's neglect of local artists — an irony given Ai's own famous urn-dropping.
The Carmen Tisch Incident
This painting got a lot of action!
In a single visit, an intoxicated Carmen Tisch allegedly punched, scratched, and slid her butt against a Clyfford Still painting valued in the tens of millions — and, prosecutors said, may have urinated on it (though she reportedly missed).
The Trouble With 'Fountain'
The urinal that keeps inviting the wrong kind of use
Marcel Duchamp's 'Fountain' — a signed urinal that founded conceptual art — has repeatedly tempted performance artist Pierre Pinoncelli to urinate in it and, later, attack it with a hammer.