The Disturbed Actor

A museum visit can end in tragedy. Not for a visitor but paintings themselves. An awkward situation made the world laugh and cry at the same time. A woman, being a part of an adult art class, winded up at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

What followed, made Picasso twiddle in his grave?

The woman tripped onto a rare Picasso painting, lost her balance and made a hole in the painting, titled “The Actor”.

"Fortunately, the damage did not occur in a focal point of the composition", the museum stated.

The century old Picasso’s masterpiece is now missing a piece in the lower right corner but the museum’s spokesperson said that the damage could be fully repaired. The canvas is big, 196 by 115 centimeters, but the museum said that despite its size and the big hole, the mending should be done before a major exhibit of Picasso work, opening on April 27.

“The Actor” should be just one of 250 Picasso’s paintings presented at the Met. The painting depicts an acrobat posing, marking a transition from Picasso’s blue to rose period. Blind musicians and beggars marked the blue, sad period while the rose period seemed to be a bit livelier.

“The Actor” was born in the winter of 1904-1905, peacefully residing at the Met since 1952. Until now.

Disturbing Picasso’s paintings seems like a curse; 4 years ago, the artist’s “Le Reve” was accidentally damaged. Steve Wynn, the owner of the painting was showing it to his friends and all of a sudden, by accident, he made a hole in it with his elbow.

Wynn was about to sell the painting for $139 million but the thumb sized hole broke the deal.