Mark Rothko’s Grey, Orange on Maroon, No. 8 (1960), part of Rotterdam museum Boijmans Van Beuningen’s permanent collection, has been damaged by a child. The museum reports in a press release that the child made ‘small scratches’ that are superficial but visible.
The painting, acquired by the museum in 1970, is reportedly worth €50 million (approximately £43 million). The incident took place in the museum’s publicly accessible storage space Depot, a MVRDV-designed structure adjacent to its main building and the world’s first museum storage facility that allows public access to all of its 151,000 artworks.
‘We are currently researching the next steps for the treatment of the painting,’ the museum said in a statement. ‘We expect that the work will be able to be shown again in the future.’
It did not reveal who would be responsible for the cost of the repairs and stated that it will not provide information on the valuation of the painting nor the possible costs. The museum added that images of the damage would not be circulated.
