Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen
Visitor admires Mark Rothko’s work “Gray, Orange on Maroon, No. 8”, exhibited at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam
A monumental painting by Mark Rothko was removed from exhibition in a Dutch art museum after a child scratched the screen. Works by the abstract expressionist Latto-American have been damaged earlier, but repairs has risen to hundreds of thousands of euros
The table “Grey, Orange on Maroon, No. 8It was a highlight of the Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum in Rotterdam, which has a collection that ranges from the Middle Ages to modern times.
Ionly two works the abstract expressionist Latto-American in public collections in the Netherlands. Conservation specialists are now evaluating the extent of damage, as well as the cost of repairing a painting probably evaluated in tens of millions of euros.
To art work “suffered superficial damage After a child touched the painting when he was on display, ”says the museum in a statement, according to David Mouriquand da.“ As a result, Small risks are visible in the paint layer not varnished at the bottom of the painting. ”
Created in 1960, “Gray, Orange on Maroon, No. 8” measures 2.3 meters high by 2.6 meters wide. It is an excellent example of “Color field” paintings From Rothko, which provoke emotional responses through large carefully mixed color blocks.
Although the museum has not provided an estimated cost of repairs, Rothko works regularly reach millions on auction. For example, “Orange, Red, Yellow” (1961) was Sold by almost 77 million euros in May 2012.
That same year, A vandal deliberately disfigured Rothko painting “Black on Maroon” (1958) with Graffiti, on display at Tate Modern in London. The vandal was sentenced to two years in prison. Experts estimated that repairs would take 18 months and the equivalent of over 310,000 euros in current values.
However, A child scratching a painting is a very different scenario. A museum spokesman told the Dutch newspaper that the painting was damaged while on display In the museum’s deposit, accessible to the public while the main building is undergoing renewals.
“All museums and galleries They think a lot about how to balance significant physical access to works of art and objects with their safety. I would say most have the right balance, but accidents can still happen, ”explains Maxwell Blowfield, creator of the“ Maxwell Museums ”newsletter to CNN.
“It is impossible to prevent all potential incidentsof visitors of all ages. Fortunately, things like this are very rare compared to the millions of visits that occur every day. ”
It’s not expensive yet Who will pay the repairs. Second Rachel Myrtlespecialist in art insurance, the insurance policies of art museums tend to cover “all risks associated with physical loss and damage to works of art”.
But in 2011, when a tourist Accidentally stepped on “pindakaasvloer” – A conceptual work created by Wim T. Schippers in the 1960s where the floor is covered with peanut butter, which on display was at the Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum – the Museum asked the tourist to pay the restoration costs.
In other cases, however, museums have been more understanding – particularly as children are involved, says.
Last August, A 4 year old boy of the 3,500 -year -old bronze age at the Hecht Museum in Haifa, Israel.
Instead of punishing the boy or his parents, the museum used the accident “as a teaching opportunity“, And invited the family to return to the museum to see how the experts performed the repairs, wrote Julia Binswanger to Smithsonian magazine.
