There are times when something makes us so angry that we cannot prevent a visceral reaction, sometimes a physical one. It seems only human. But it seems a little peculiar when that something is a work of art. Following are some instances of art taking it on the chin, who did it, how, when, and what the vandal said when asked why.
Argenteuil Basin with a Single Sailboat
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. (top) and Artur Widak—PA Wire/AP Images The time and date: Just before 11 AM on June 29, 2012
The assaulted work: Claude Monet’s Argenteuil Basin with a Single Sailboat (1874)
The scene of the crime: National Gallery of Ireland
The perpetrator: 49-year-old Andrew Shannon
The weapon: Shannon’s fist
The reason offered by the perp: Unstable angina. The perp claimed to have fallen against the painting in a fit of dizziness. However, the damage was done in an area above the level of Shannon’s eyes. What do you think?Black on Maroon
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. (top) and Lefteris Pitarakis/AP Images The time and date: 3:25 PM on October 7, 2012
The assaulted work: Mark Rothko’s Black on Maroon (1958)
The scene of the crime: Tate Modern, London
The perpetrator: 26-year-old Vladimir Umanets
The weapon: Black ink applied by Umanets, who wrote his name and the words "a potential piece of yellowism"—the name of a would-be movement cofounded by the perp—on the painting
The reason offered by the perp: He said, “I am not a vandal. Art allows us to take what someone's done and put a new message on it." Our question is “Art who?”Fountain
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. (top) and Marcel Duchamp/Alfred Stieglitz The time and date: 1993 and January 3, 2006
The assaulted work: Both times, Marcel Duchamp’s ready-made Fountain (1964)
The scene of the crime: Nîmes, France (1993), and Pompidou Centre, Paris (2006)
The perpetrator: Both times, Frenchman Pierre Pinoncelli
The weapon: Both times, mainly a hammer
The reason offered by the perp: During questioning the second time around, Pinoncelli told police that his hammer attack was a work of performance art and then said that it might have pleased the artists of Dada. Who knows?The Toilet of Venus
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. (top) and The National Gallery, London The time and date: Just past 10:00 AM on March 10, 1914
The assaulted work: The so-called Rokeby Venus (The Toilet of Venus) by Diego Velázquez
The scene of the crime: The National Gallery, London
The perpetrator: Suffragette Mary Richardson
The weapon: A meat cleaver, with which she smashed the painting’s protective glass and then began slashing the canvas
The reason offered by the perp: After her arrest, Richardson said, “I have tried to destroy the picture of the most beautiful woman in mythological history as a protest against the Government destroying Mrs Pankhurst, who is the most beautiful character in modern history. Justice is an element of beauty as much as colour and outline on canvas.” Many years later she confessed, “I didn’t like the way men visitors to the gallery gaped at it all day.” The truth comes out?Work No. 227: The lights going on and off
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. (top) and Dan Chung/AP Images The time and date: December 11, 2001
The assaulted work: Work No. 227: The lights going on and off by Martin Creed
The scene of the crime: Tate Britain, London
The perpetrator: Artist Jacqueline Crofton
The weapon: Two chicken eggs
The reason offered by the perp: Crofton acted on a dream she had of vandalizing Creed’s work after it was selected as the winner of the Turner Prize. She claimed to have “nothing against Creed, although I do not think his work can be considered as art. At worst, The lights going on and off is an electrical work. At best, it is philosophy. What I object to fiercely is that we've got this cartel who control the top echelons of the art world in this country and leave no access for painters and sculptors with real creative talent.” Sounds a tad like envy, no?Pietà
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. (top) and © [email protected]/Fotolia The time and date: May 21, 1972
The assaulted work: Pietà by Michelangelo
The scene of the crime: St. Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City
The perpetrator: Unemployed geologist Laslo Toth
The weapon: A hammer, 12 blows
The reason offered by the perp: Toth offered no reason. He was certifiable enough to claim alternately that he was Jesus Christ and Michelangelo.Militia Company of District II Under the Command of Captain Frans Banninck Cocq
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. (top) and Rijksmuseum The time and date: 1990 (also 1911 and 1975)
The assaulted work: Rembrandt van Rijn’s so-called Night Watch (Militia Company of District II Under the Command of Captain Frans Banninck Cocq)
The scene of the crime: Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
The perpetrator: Escaped psychiatric patient P.G., as The New York Times reported
The weapon: Sprayed sulfuric acid
The reason offered by the perp: None. He was not coherent. Oddly enough, it is thought that this was the same man who nine years later used a kitchen knife to severely damage a Picasso (Nude in Front of a Garden) at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam.Curtains
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. The time and date: August 7, 1993
The assaulted work: Curtains by Roy Lichtenstein
The scene of the crime: Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City
The perpetrator: Temporary Whitney guard Reginald Walker
The weapon: Felt-tip pen
The reason offered by the perp: He was apparently overcome by love. He drew a heart and wrote the words “Reggie + Crystal I Love You Tushee Love Buns.”Away from the Flock
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. (top) and Rex Features/AP Images The time and date: May 9, 1994
The assaulted work: Away from the Flock (an installation of a dead sheep floating in formaldehyde) by Damien Hirst
The scene of the crime: Serpentine Gallery, London
The perpetrator: Artist Mark Bridger
The weapon: Black ink, poured into the tank of formaldehyde
The reason offered by the perp: “I was in a carpe diem frame of mind; tomorrow may not be available.…To live is to do things, I was providing an interesting addendum to his work. In terms of conceptual art, the sheep had already made its statement. Art is there for creation of awareness and I added to whatever it was meant to say.” Whatever.Composition in White, Black, and Red
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. (top) and Peter Horree/Alamy The time and date: November 2, 1996
The assaulted work: Piet Mondrian’s Composition in White, Black, and Red
The scene of the crime: Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York City
The perpetrator: Artist Jubal Brown
The weapon: Projectile vomit consisting of blue gelatin and blue icing
The reason offered by the perp: This was the second instance of Brown deliberately ingesting foods of a particular color in order to vomit on particular works of art that he considered “oppressively trite and painfully banal.” (The first was Raoul Dufy’s Harbor at Le Havre, which “was just so boring it needed color.” That time he vomited red gelatin and red icing.) He said that he found the Mondrian work’s “lifelessness threatening.” Yeah. Maybe somebody needed some attention.Bamiyan Buddhas
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. (top) and Phecda109 The time and date: Over the course of several days in March 2001
The assaulted work: Two monumental 6th-century Gandhara-style Buddhas
The scene of the crime: Bamiyan, Afghanistan
The perpetrator: Taliban, using various agents, at the command of Mullah Mohammad Omar
The weapon: Dynamite, tanks, and antiaircraft weapons
The reason offered by the perp: To rid the world of un-Muslim idolatry, human heritage be damned.
