Monet Art Vandalised

The BBC reports that a gang of intruders has broken into an art museum in Paris and inflicted serious damage on a painting by Impressionist artist Claude Monet. Four or five people were caught on camera breaking into the Musee d'Orsay via a back door early on Sunday. An alarm sounded but the apparently drunken group fled after punching a 10cm (four inch) hole in the famous painting Le Pont d'Argenteuil painted in 1874 - a view of the Seine with a bridge and boats. The attack occurred on Paris's Nuit Blanche - an annual all-night festival of music and culture. Several recent incidents have highlighted security problems at French art institutes. In February a performance artist attacked a work by Marcel Duchamp at the Pompidou Centre. Four paintings were stolen from the Fine Art museum in Nice in August. And on Tuesday, a woman goes on trial after leaving lipstick marks on a Cy Twombly work on show in Avignon. (For full source and full article click the Headline). Irish Art