A young visitor has caused damage to Mark Rothko’s Grey, Orange on Maroon, No. 8, a painting valued at up to €50 million (approximately £42.5 million), at Rotterdam’s Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen.
The incident occurred during what the museum described as an “unguarded moment.” A spokesperson confirmed the damage was “superficial,” with minor scratches visible on the unvarnished paint layer in the lower section. The museum is now consulting conservation experts in the Netherlands and internationally to determine the next steps for restoration. “We expect the work will be displayable again in the future,” they added.
The painting was on view in the museum’s Depot—a publicly accessible storage space—as part of an exhibition showcasing “public favourites” from the collection. Sophie McAloone, Conservation Manager at the Fine Art Restoration Company, explained that modern unvarnished paintings like Rothko’s are particularly vulnerable. “Their complex materials, lack of protective coating, and bold colour fields mean even minor damage is immediately noticeable,” she said. “Scratches to the upper layers can significantly alter the viewer’s experience.”
This is not the first time a Rothko has been damaged. In 2012, his Black on Maroon (1958) was defaced at Tate Modern by Wlodzimierz Umaniec, who was later jailed. The restoration took 18 months and cost around £200,000. “Rothko’s works are notoriously difficult to restore due to his intricate use of pigments and resins,” he noted. The absence of varnish further complicates conservation efforts, leaving the painting exposed to environmental factors.
Rachel Myrtle, Head of Specie and Fine Arts at Aon explained that fine art insurance typically covers accidental damage, including incidents involving visitors. Insurers usually dispatch loss adjusters to assess the damage, review CCTV footage, and evaluate restoration options.
The museum has not confirmed liability but has previously billed visitors for damages. In 2011, a tourist was charged for repairs after stepping on Wim T. Schippers’ Pindakaasvloer (Peanut Butter Floor). “It’s standard procedure for those who damage art to cover costs,” a museum spokesperson said at the time.
The Netherlands has seen several high-profile art mishaps in recent years. In 2024, Andy Warhol prints were damaged during a botched robbery in Oisterwijk, while a town hall accidentally discarded 46 artworks, including a Warhol portrait of former Dutch Queen Beatrix, during renovations.
As for Rothko’s Grey, Orange on Maroon, No. 8, conservators are now meticulously documenting the damage and researching past restoration techniques. “Rothko’s works seem cursed,” Helm remarked. “This isn’t the first—and likely won’t be the last.”
Mark Rothko (1903–1970), one of the seminal figures of 20th-century New York Abstract Expressionism, revolutionised abstraction with his luminous, meditative canvases that sought to evoke raw human emotion through colour and form.
Settling in Portland, Oregon, Rothko later studied at Yale before abandoning academia for the bohemian intensity of New York’s art scene. His early figurative work, influenced by mythology and Surrealism, gradually gave way to his signature style—vast, pulsating fields of colour that seemed to breathe with an almost spiritual resonance. By the 1950s, Rothko had distilled his compositions into stacked rectangular forms, their edges blurred, as if hovering between presence and dissolution. These works, often monumental in scale, were not mere paintings but immersive experiences, intended to envelop the viewer in what Rothko described as “the tragic and the timeless.” Deeply intellectual yet distrustful of the art world’s commodification, he famously withdrew from a prestigious commission for the Four Seasons restaurant, declaring that his art required a sacred, contemplative space. Plagued by depression and disillusionment in his final years, Rothko took his own life in 1970. His paintings—once dismissed as simplistic—now command record-breaking sums, yet their true power lies in their ability to articulate the ineffable, transforming colour into a language of transcendence.
Top Photo: AAD HOOGENDOORN/MUSEUM BOIJMANS VAN BEUNINGEN