A major painting by Mark Rothko, housed at the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam, has been damaged by a child who made “small scratches” on the work. The incident occured while Grey, Orange on Maroon, No. 8 (1960) was on display in the Depot, a publicly accessible storage facility located beside the main museum.
A museum statement confirms that the painting sustained superficial damage and, as a result, scratches are visible in the unvarnished paint layer in the lower part of the painting.
“We are currently researching the next steps for the treatment of the painting. We expect that the work will be able to be shown again in the future,” the museum says in a statement, confirming that conservation expertise are being sought in the Netherlands and abroad.
It is unclear who will pay for the repairs and conservation of the work but the statement adds: “Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen provides no information on the valuation of the painting, the possible costs associated with the conservation of the painting or the further handling of this matter. Images of the damage will not be circulated.”
Jonny Helm, a marketing manager at the art restoration company Plowden & Smith, told the BBC that the attack has implications for other museums due to open up their collections. This includes the Victoria and Albert Museum which will launch the V&A East Storehouse, a vast new open-access working store in Stratford, London, next month. "How will this event affect other UK institutions who are opening up their archives in the same way?" Helm said.
Rothko’s Orange Red Yellow (1961) sold for $86.8m at Christie's in New York in 2012, setting an auction record for the late Abstract Expressionist artist.