A child damaged one of Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen’s most valuable paintings this spring during, the museum confirmed. The artwork, Grey, Orange on Maroon, No. 8 by American artist Mark Rothko, is estimated to be worth between 40 and 50 million euros, according to Dutch paper AD.
The incident occurred at the Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen, where the painting was displayed as part of the exhibition Lievelingen. With the museum's main building closed for renovations until 2030, seventy of the collection’s most popular pieces, ranging from Pieter Bruegel to Salvador Dalí, have been shown in the Depot.
In a statement, a museum spokesperson said, "The work by Rothko (Grey, orange on maroon, no. 8) has suffered damage: a number of visible scratches in the unvarnished paint layer. It happened because a child, in an unsupervised moment, touched the lower part of the work."
Grey, Orange on Maroon, No. 8, acquired by Boijmans in 1970, is one of only two Rothko paintings in the Netherlands and is among the museum’s most valuable pieces. Rothko, who lived from 1903 to 1970, is known for large abstract paintings with "floating color fields."
Main Image: Rothko, Grey, Orange on Maroon, No. 8
Anna Melnykova, "Palace of Labor (palats praci), architector I. Pretro, 1916", shot with analog Canon camera, 35 mm Fuji film in March 2022.
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