Intruders damage priceless Monet

Sunday, Oct. 07, 2007

Intruders at Paris' Orsay damage a Monet
By CECILE ALMENDROS- Associated Press Writer

PARIS ? Intruders, apparently drunk, broke into the Orsay Museum through a back door early Sunday and punched a hole in a renowned work by Impressionist painter Claude Monet, the French culture minister said.

A 10-centimeter (nearly 4-inch) tear is seen in renowned work by Impressionist painter Claude Monet, "Le Pont d'Argenteuil," at the Orsay Museum in Paris, Sunday, Oct. 7, 2007, after intruders entered the museum early Sunday and seriously damaged the painting. A surveillance camera caught a group entering the museum, housing a major collection of Impressionist artists like Monet. An alarm sounded and the group left, but not before damaging the invaluable painting. "Le Pont d'Argenteuil" shows a view of the Seine at a rural bend, featuring a bridge and boats.

A surveillance camera caught a group of four to five people entering the museum, which houses a major collection of Impressionist art on the Left Bank of the French capital along the Seine River.

An alarm sounded and the group left, but not before damaging an invaluable painting, "Le Pont d'Argenteuil," Culture Minister Christine Albanel said.

"We know there were four or five people, likely four boys and a girl, who entered around midnight to 1 a.m., broke a door that was, perhaps, fragile," Albanel said. "It appears they were drunk. ... Someone punched the magnificent masterpiece by Monet."

No arrests were immediately made and there were no signs the group was armed, Albanel told reporters at a news conference.

The intruders "tried to force other doors" before succeeding at a back door, "even though it had big bolts," she said, wondering aloud if the bolts might have been faulty. The painting hung on the ground floor with other Impressionist masterpieces.

Albanel said the painting could be restored, but she deplored the damage.

"It's always a heartbreak when an art object that is our memory, our heritage, that we love and that we are proud of is victim of a purely criminal act," she said.

The painting, shown to reporters, bore a horizontal tear about 4 inches in length that exposed threads of canvas. It looked to have been punched in with a fist.

Monet led the 19th century Impressionist movement, experimenting notably with light and color in works now deemed priceless.

~continued ..

"Le Pont d'Argenteuil" shows a view of the Seine at a rural bend, featuring a bridge and boats.

The break-in occurred during Paris' annual all-night festival which brings thousands of people into the streets for concerts and exhibits.

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TRULEY heartbreaking & senseless to say the least. Monet certainly one of my favorite Impressionist painters .. *hope they catch these drunken culprits soon..

..i'm guessing security will be beefed-up by the next annual all-night festival! All night (on-sight) security guards wouldn't be a bad idea.

I'm surprised at how low security was. For a museum too.

Very true guys; there should at least be mesh cages around the paintings at night. I also thought most high-end museums had those infra-red sensor beams all over the place..hmmm? ..i guess it's back to the drawing boards..*or SP's duct tape. =)

I'm surprised they didn't lock the back door. An alarm should have gone off at least. I mean I work in security and this is just shameful. As for the infra-red, most companies don't use infrared because it costs too much money and it's easy to just shut the power off from a circuit breaker outside and waltz in. Like come at least an alarm or a dude with a flashlight is good enough for this, maybe even a bell or a pane of glass over the painting especially for a public venue like a museum. This grinds my gears because shit like this never happens on my watch. Whereas when it comes to their homes they go the whole 9 yards with all the doohickies and when it's a museum they can't afford one guy with a flashlight.