Picasso's "The Actor" was painted in the winter of 1904-'05 -- and damaged by an art lover 105 years later.
Metropolitan Museum of Art
THE GIST:
- The painting was at New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art.
- The museum said the tear did not affect the focal point of the painting.
A significant Pablo Picasso painting was damaged after a woman attending art class lost her balance, fell into "The Actor" and tore it, The Metropolitan Museum of Art said.
The unusually large canvas, measuring 77.25 by 45.38 inches, sustained a vertical tear of about six inches in the lower right-hand corner in the accident on Friday.
The museum, located on the eastern edge of New York's Central Park, did not elaborate on why the woman fell.
But The Met said the damage did not impact the "focal point of the composition" and that it should be repaired in the coming weeks ahead of a major Picasso retrospective featuring some 250 works at the museum opening on April 27.
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Repair work should be "unobtrusive," it added.
Painted in the winter of 1904-1905, the work hails from Picasso's critical Rose Period, when the artist shifted from the downbeat tones of his Blue Period to warmer, more romantic hues.
The period also hints at Picasso's later embrace of abstraction with his signature cubist style.
Donated to The Met by automobile heiress Thelma Chrysler Foy in 1952, "The Actor" features an acrobat striking a dramatic pose against an abstract backdrop. It was painted on a used canvas that already contained a painting.
Tags: Artists, Museums and Tours, Painting
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