Some Kid Messed Up A Painting That's Worth More Than $50 Million

Someone has damaged another incredibly valuable painting, but for once it wasn't done by some attention-seeker trying to let people know that burning fossil fuels is bad, maaaaaaaan.

Nope. This time, it was just some goofy kid who damaged a painting worth more than $50 million.

Kids do the darnedest things, don't they?

According to the BBC, the incident occurred at Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

That museum happens to have a piece by American artist Mark Rothko in its collection called "Grey, Orange on Maroon, No. 8."

Now, I'm no art scholar, but I can usually pick out a Rothko because I saw a documentary about art forging once, and it pissed me off how his paintings are usually just square and rectangle blocks that pretty much anyone could paint and they sell for millions.

King Willem-Alexander of The Netherlands stands in front of "Grey, Orange on Maroon, No. 8" at the Boijmans van Beuningen museum in 2021. (Photo by Patrick van Katwijk/Getty Images)

As I mentioned, "Grey, Orange on Maroon, No. 8" is estimated to be worth €50 million, which is well over $55 million.

So, you'd think — given its astronomical price tag — the museum would always have at least one eye on this piece, but you'd be wrong.

According to a museum spokesperson, an "unguarded moment" led to some kid damaging the piece, which sustained "superficial" damage.

"Small scratches are visible in the unvarnished paint layer in the lower part of the painting," the spokesperson said.

So… is this a "You break it, you buy it" kind of thing?

Luckily for the parents of that little hellion, it isn't, but the painting will need to be refurbished, something that is apparently harder to do than you'd be led to believe from looking at the painting.