I had a copy of the painting, Magritte’s “Castle of the Pyrenees,” taped to my door growing up - it’s popular among fantasy lovers. I’m glad they’ll be able to fix it, but really wish they’d improve their security.
Yes, although; see references in that article to surprising (to me at least) number of similar incidents in museums worldwide.
I guess this sort of thing is statistically inevitable when you’ve got millions of people annually in proximity to tens of thousands of precious and notable objects.
Maybe having “escort” docents helping usher families with small children through vulnerable exhibits wouldn’t be a bad idea, though.
I don’t know if that’s really a practical solution for most museums as this would increase their operating costs. For starters, pretty much every painting in an art museum is going to be a vulnerable exhibit unless it’s behind glass. How many “escort” docents would some place like the Israel Museum in Jerusalem need? At most art museums I’ve been to, the tours have all been self-guided and there’s very little interaction with any of the staff. Would the museum require people with children to form groups and follow the docent around?
I’m of two minds. The first is that we simply don’t allow children into certain museums. But this isn’t an acceptable solution for most people. The second is that we simply accept things like this are going to happen from time-to-time. I never had a problem with a kid wrecking anything at the museum I worked at…though I had some jerks who couldn’t stay off the Jeep. They weren’t kids though.
That’s a bit sad. Last summer I went with my 4 and 3 year old nephews to MoMA and they loved it. They had a book of artwork at home so were excited to see the real paintings.
So, are pinecones something you normally find in Israeli museums? Is there a pinecone booth selling overpriced pinecones to over-enthusiastic toddlers? What, exactly, did the kid do with the pinecone? Throw it?
I can’t understand what the grandparent was thinking.
We had outdoor activities (throwing things, yelling, running around, etc.) and indoor activities. Rubbing pine cones against stuff sounds like an outdoor activity.
My guess? The kid found a pinecone on the way to the museum, the grandparent told him to throw it away, the kid begged them to let him keep it, the grandparent, not wanting to be the bad guy, said OK, keep it but don’t touch anything with it, the kid promised he wouldn’t, and then, being five years old, immediately forgot.
Also, it was probably an Aleppo or Turkish pine cone, and those are petty small.