Art Critic Burns in Hell
Tuesday, September 6
A visitor to an art museum in western Austria pulled a pocket knife from her purse and repeatedly slashed a painting by U.S. pop artist Roy Lichtenstein, a police spokesman said Sunday. I only mention this cause Lichtenstein is one of my favorite artists.
The woman, a 35-year-old German from Munich, was visiting the Kunsthaus Bregenz exhibition "Roy Lichtenstein — Classic of the New" on Saturday afternoon when she slashed the painting "Nude in Mirror," police spokesman Thomas Prodinger said. She made four cuts, each measuring almost 12 inches, Prodinger said.
The painting, owned by The Rush Family Collection in New York, had been insured for $6 million, he said. Lichtenstein died in 1997 at age 73.
A museum visitor and an employee held the woman until police arrived. She scratched a police officer in the face and bit another in the leg during questioning, Prodinger said.
The woman, whose identity was not released, had been examined by a court psychiatrist and faces a charge of causing grave property damage, a crime that carries a punishment of up to five years in prison, Prodinger said. And then she can die and burn in hell.
