When Art Makes Us Go Berserk

Certainly there are many examples of this phenomenon, from hammer attacks on marble sculptures, to spray-painting masterpieces, to authorities confiscating an artist's house. I have even heard tell that a special security guard is on duty in the Rijksmuseum, just in case anyone is hypnotized by Rembrandt's The Night Watch. However, I had never before heard of a gymnastics-inspired attack on art before last Thursday. According to the Chicago Sun-Times, a woman doing handsprings catapulted herself across a Berlin gallery where the controversial Flick exhibition is being held, and into two separate pieces, damaging both. In case any judicial committee craves my opinion, I give her high style points for being 35-years old and capable of handsprings, but negative numbers for damaging art and that cheerleader nonsense.

Today (September 27) in Art History:

• The Taj Mahal in Agra, India, was completed somewhere around now in 1654. Indian officials have opened 350th-anniversary celebrations as of today, in 2004.
• Edgar Degas (French Impressionist painter), died in 1917