‘Bored’ Security Guard Allegedly Draws Eyes on Faceless $1.3 Million Painting at Russian Gallery

Photo by Daily Mail

A ‘bored’ museum security guard allegedly drew two pairs of eyes using a ballpoint pen on a million-dollar painting that was on exhibit at the Yeltsin Center in Yekaterinburg, Russia, according to Daily Mail.

On his first day of the job, a bored security guard decided to doodle two pairs of eyes with a ‘Yeltsin Center-branded pen’ to Anna Leporskaya’s Soviet-era painting “Three Figures.”

According to reports, two guests visiting the museum noticed two pairs of eyes drawn at the avant-garde painting from the 1930s.

The security guard was fired and charged with vandalism. Police have opened a criminal investigation regarding the incident.

Anna Reshetkina, the curator of the exhibition at the Yelstin Center in Yekaterinburg, said in a statement, “his motives are still unknown but the administration believes it was some kind of a lapse in sanity.”

Daily Mail reported:

A painting worth £740,000 has been destroyed after a ‘bored’ security guard drew eyes on faceless figures depicted in the artwork at a Russian gallery.

The painting was defaced by a security guard, who has not been named but is believed to be 60-years-old, who worked for a private security company, the Yeltsin Center said in a statement.

The painting, which was on loan from the State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow, was damaged by the security guard after he is said to have became bored on his first day. He has since been fired.

The work was then sent to the Moscow gallery the next day and was inspected by an art restorer.

Police have now opened an investigation for vandalism, with comes with a £395 (74.9 million Russian Rubles) fine and a one-year correctional labour sentence.

The painting is being restored, the damage, according to the restoration expert at State Tretyakov Gallery, can be eliminated without any long-term damage to the artwork.

The damage to the painting and cost of restoration has been estimated at £2,470 (RUB 250,000).

It is unclear how much the painting is worth, but it was insured with the Alfa insurance company for £740,000 (RUB 74.9 million).

It has been reported that the company where the security guard worked is paying for the restoration.

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Jim Hᴏft is the founder and editor of The Gateway Pundit, one of the top conservative news outlets in America. Jim was awarded the Reed Irvine Accuracy in Media Award in 2013 and is the proud recipient of the Breitbart Award for Excellence in Online Journalism from the Americans for Prosperity Foundation in May 2016.

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