Normally people who use their cell phones in a museum or any venue are too preoccupied with their devices to notice anything else. But, a visitor to a Houston museum caught a man vandalizing a painting by Pablo Picasso on June 13. The man has yet to be identified, but he managed to stencil over Picasso’s 1929 “Woman in Red,” before escaping. Museum officials immediately rushed the painting to their onsite conservation lab. Their quick response ensures the likelihood the artwork will be saved.
A 24-second video has appeared on YouTube. Houston police spokeswoman Jodi Silva said investigators are reviewing both surveillance video from the museum and the video posted on YouTube. When asked if police think the vandal and witness were working together, she said, “We’re taking all the information and we’re looking at all aspects of the incident.” She would not say whether police have spoken to the witness who shot the video.
This is not the first time one of Picasso’s works has been vandalized. In 1999, an escaped mental patient in Amsterdam cut a hole in the middle of his “Woman Nude Before Garden,” a 1956 painting.
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