Free Republic

A painting by American artist Mark Rothko, valued at up to €50 million, has been damaged by a child at the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam. A painting by Mark Rothko has been damaged by a child during an “unguarded moment,” according to a Dutch museum. The abstract painting from 1960, “Grey, Orange on Maroon, No. 8”, was “scratched” by a child visiting the Rotterdam gallery Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen where it was on display. The museum shared a statement: “The painting Grey, Orange on Maroon, No. 8 by Mark Rothko has sustained superficial damage after a child touched...

hould children be allowed in art galleries? In 2014 Jake Chapman caused a minor furore, and prompted a lot of column inches, when he said that taking kids to galleries was a “waste of time”. He told The Independent parents were "arrogant" for thinking their children could understand artists like Jackson Pollock or Mark Rothko, adding "children are not human yet". The two children in this video, which has been going viral in recent days, clearly couldn’t give a hoot what Jake Chapman has to say about their appreciation of art. ... And as their parents look on, filming their...

In an art market governed largely by pretense and money, does a masterpiece have any intrinsic value? That question has emerged from a civil case brought by Sotheby’s chairman of Domenico de Sole and his wife, Eleanore, against Ann Freedman, former president of the Knoedler Gallery, the oldest and most respected gallery in New York until it closed in 2011 amidst a massive forgery scandal. Knoedler had sold some forty paintings claimed to be by abstract expressionists like Jackson Pollock, Barnett Newman, and Mark Rothko, all of which turned out to be forgeries created in Queens by a female artist...