World of the Bizarre

'Bored' guard draws eyes on million dollar painting

By T.K. Randall
February 11, 2022 ·  6 comments

The 'eyes' can be seen on the left and right figures. Image Credit: Boris Yeltsin Presidential Center The bizarre incident was first brought to light back in December when two visitors to the Boris Yeltsin Presidential Center in Ekaterinburg noticed that one of the paintings - Anna Leporskaya's Three Figures - appeared to have been vandalized.

The culprit had drawn sets of eyes on the 'faceless' figures in the painting which dates back to the 1930s and is understood to be insured for around $1 million.

Initially, Ekaterinburg's ministry of internal affairs had deemed the issue too trivial to investigate, however the intervention of the ministry of culture quickly changed that and a police investigation was launched.It turned out that one of the gallery's own security guards had drawn the eyes on using a ballpoint pen.

The guard, who has not been named, had apparently been 'bored' during his first day on the job.

"His motives are still unknown but the administration believes it was some kind of a lapse in sanity," said exhibition curator Anna Reshetkina.

Fortunately, though, it does not look as though the damage is too severe.


Source: The Guardian | Comments (6)

Tags: Painting