The Warhol Mistaken for Rubbish
A masterpiece lost not to thieves, but to a skip
Image: Unsplash
- Repair Cost
- Irreplaceable (destroyed)
- Curator's Blood Pressure
- 88%
- Embarrassment Level
- 9/10
- Recovered?
- No
- Selfie Involved?
- No
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.
Not every museum mishap happens inside a gallery. In 2025 officials in Maashorst admitted that a Warhol print — among dozens of artworks improperly stored during renovations the previous year — had probably been carted off with the rubble and destroyed at a local waste-processing plant.
Local officials publicly apologised, acknowledging that valuable cultural property had been handled with astonishing carelessness. Sometimes masterpieces vanish not because they are stolen, but because someone mistakes them for garbage.