$1.3-Million Painting Ruined After Being Vandalized By 'Bored' Security Guard

A security guard in a Russian museum who was reportedly “bored” while on his first day at work drew on an important abstract painting from a Russian artist, which was made public on Thursday, Feb. 10, as the museum attempts to fix what was vandalized.

"Three Figures," a painting by abstract painter Anna Leporskaya that was created between 1932 and 1934, is insured at over $1.3 million and is considered a valuable painting for that time period in art. It was on display at the Boris Yeltsin Presidential Center at Ekaterinburg when the incident first occurred, according to the Guardian.

Many of the administrators and curators at the Yeltsin Center are still baffled at the act of the 60-year-old security guard, who remains unnamed to the public at this time. Curator Anna Reshetkina said that the damage was done with a “Yeltsin Center-branded pen,” the Daily Beast reported.

The damage to the painting will cost over $3,300 to repair, though it does appear like the vandalism was significant enough to make the Yeltsin Center put protective screens on the other exhibitions being shown.

“The ink has slightly penetrated into the paint layer, since the titanium white used to paint the faces is not covered with author’s varnish, as is often the case in abstract painting of that time,” Ivan Petrov from the Art Newspaper wrote.

“Fortunately, the vandal drew with a pen without strong pressure, and therefore the relief of the strokes as a whole was not disturbed. The left figure also had a small crumble of the paint layer up to the underlying layer on the face,” he continued to explain.

First noticed on Dec. 7, 2021 by two visitors, the painting has been returned to the State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow to face repairs.

Meanwhile, the security guard has been charged with vandalism, which carries a fine and three months in prison if convicted. He was reportedly not going to be charged at first until the Ministry of Culture complained about the lack of action against him.

The security guard was reportedly hospitalized after the vandalism was discovered and is apparently severely affected by the event.