The vandal "improved" the painting for 75 million by painting the eyes on it

News that someone "improves" the works of famous artists and sculptors by their own efforts appear regularly. The last victim of vandals was a painting by Anna Leporskaya, the insurance value of which is 75 million rubles. Someone decided that on the canvas "Three Figures" the characters do not have enough eyes and finished them with an ordinary ballpoint pen.

Anna Leporskaya is a Soviet porcelain artist, painter, graphic artist, designer. But most importantly, she is one of Kazimir Malevich's favorite students. The painting "Three Figures", painted in the early 30s of the last century, belongs to the collection of the State Tretyakov Gallery. But she suffered at the exhibition "The World as pointlessness. The Birth of a New Art" at the Yekaterinburg Yeltsin Center.

An unknown visitor drew the eyes of two abstract figures out of three depicted in the painting with a ballpoint pen. Experts have already assessed the degree of damage caused to the masterpiece. Fortunately, the vandal painted without pressure and did not damage the canvas and did not break the relief of the strokes. But the ink penetrated into the upper paint layer, not protected by the author's varnish. The left figure suffered a little more than the right one, since the lead whitewash under the action of the handle crumbled to the layer lying below.

The picture was "finalized" in the evening of December 7, 2021. The eyes on the canvas were noticed by two visitors and immediately raised the alarm. The injured canvas of Anna Leporskaya was immediately sent to Moscow, to the Tretyakov Gallery, where specialists took care of it. According to the most modest estimate, the restoration work will cost 250 thousand rubles.

At the same time, the gallery will not suffer financially — the painting was insured for its entire estimated value of 74.9 million rubles. All restoration work will be paid for by the insurance company. When connoisseurs of abstractionism will be able to see the painting "Three Figures" again has not yet been reported.

In this story, it is not only the fact that hooligans are shamelessly operating in the gallery that surprises. The reaction of law enforcement officers shocked everyone. Representatives of the Yekaterinburg Foundation "Presidential Center of B.N.Yeltsin" and the Tretyakov Gallery wrote a statement to the police, to which a response came on December 20:

Perhaps the guards even think that the picture has become better, but they are restrained because of the delicacy inherent in people of their profession. So the anonymous co-author of Anna Leporskaya, most likely, will not be punished for his actions.