After Russian man defaced a painting, seven other art attacks and accidents, from punching a hole in a Monet to cleaners throwing away bits of installations

A Russian security guard, on his first day working at an art gallery, drew eyes on a million-dollar painting with a ballpoint pen

It isn’t the first time an artwork has been damaged, whether accidentally or on purpose. From Hong Kong to Los Angeles, we recall seven high-profile incidents

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In 2012, a 12-year-old boy visiting the Huashan 1914 Creative Park in Taipei was holding a drink when he stumbled and fell, leaving a fist-size hole in a 17th century Italian oil painting titled Flowers.

Published: 5:22pm, 14 Feb 2022Updated: 6:00am, 15 Feb 2022

When news spread that a guard at a Russian art gallery had vandalised an expensive avant-garde painting by drawing eyes on it, it drew both giggles and groans.

Using a ballpoint pen, the man – apparently bored on his first day on the job – doodled on the 1930s painting Three Figures, by Anna Leporskaya, that was insured for 75 million roubles (US$1 million).

It’s one of many red-faced moments – some accidental, others intentional – that the art world has seen. Here are some other examples:

In 2012, a 12-year-old boy visiting the Huashan 1914 Creative Park in Taipei, Taiwan, was holding a drink when he stumbled and fell, leaving a fist-sized hole in a 17th century Italian oil painting titled Flowers.

The still life, which the exhibitors then valued at US$1.5 million, was owned by a private collector, who did not ask the boy’s family to pay for the restoration costs. A video of the incident has racked up more than 12 million views.

Also in 2012, Andrew Shannon punched a hole through a US$10 million Claude Monet painting, Argenteuil Basin with a Single Sailboat (1874). The incident took place in front of stunned art lovers at the National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin.