Whooops. I wonder if she'll be held liable for damages.
On Friday afternoon a woman taking an adult education class at the Metropolitan Museum of Art accidentally lost her balance and fell into “The Actor,” right, a rare Rose Period Picasso, tearing the canvas about six inches along its lower right-hand corner. Immediately after the accident the painting was taken to the Met’s conservation studio so experts could assess the damage, museum officials said. A statement released by the Met on Sunday afternoon said, “The damage did not occur in the focal point of the composition and the curatorial and conservation staffs fully expect that the repair — which will take place in the coming weeks — will be unobtrusive.” The canvas — about 6 ½ feet by 4 feet — was hanging on the wall of a second-floor gallery with other early Picassos. The museum declined to identify the woman, but said she was not injured. Picasso created the painting, which depicts an itinerant acrobat theatrically posed, during the winter of 1904-5. Museum officials said they expected the repair to be completed in time for “Picasso in the Metropolitan Museum of Art,” an exhibition of some 250 works from its collection opening on April 27.
How's somebody going to do that? You don't have to be an idiot to lose your balance... but you do have to be an idiot to lose your balance near a Picasso and then use it to catch yourself. They should hold her financially responsible for the cost of the repairs as well as the loss in value.
People are generally quite stupid.
I'm more curious about what she was doing to initially lose her balance than I am about why she tried to use the painting to brace herself. When you're falling, you reach out. It's purely instinctual.
The whole thing reminds me of a hilariously overacted video I watched in my Museum & Gallery Practices class last semester. It was like one of those workplace injury videos, except in a museum. Good times.
There's a video for such things? Does it train you to just take it to the face if you fall down near a Picasso?
Sounds riveting.
It trains you to not drink a cup of coffee while moving a painting, to not pick up a statue by its weakest part, and to not accidentally rub up against a work of art with a utility knife sticking out of your pocket. Basically to not be an idiot.
Yeah, the saddest part is that they have those videos for a reason. Meaning some really dumbass people must have made all of those mistakes some time before.
Some people instincts are to reach out to items that can help them...you wouldnt reach out to a woman holding a baby right?
I'm not a youtube junkie, but that is one youtube I would like to see...
This is why I keep my Picassos up high on the walls at home.
Still a threat to be knocked down by flying champagne corks.
Why? You could always just buy new prints.
Steve Wynn did some damage to a picasso too but he's half-blind. This women is just an idiot.
Think about it. There has to be a surveillance camera footage of this.
If only Picasso were available to make me some new ones.
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