Ottavio Vannini “The Triumph of David” / foot

(In 2007, a 21-year-old named Timothy Kubena, disturbed by the painting’s violent imagery, ripped the work off the wall of the Milwaukee Art Museum and began pounding and kicking the portion showing Goliath’s head. Once he’d punctured the piece, he took off his shoes and shirt and laid down on the museum floor to wait for police to arrive, saying to museum security, “That’s it. I just want that gone. I’m done. I come in peace.” The damage - a tennis ball-sized hole between Goliath’s eyes - was eventually restored.)

unknown artist, unknown work / spray paint

Eyob Mergia “After Caravaggio” / knife

Graham Hudson “Canal St Commons” / spray paint

Willem de Kooning drawing / eraser

(In 1953, artist Robert Rauschenberg had been working on a series of white monochrome paintings and, in an attempt to integrate drawing into the series, began experimenting with erasure. Unsatisfied with erasing his own work, he approached the painter Willem de Kooning and requested a work of de Kooning’s to erase. In response, de Kooning gave him an untitled drawing done in pencil and crayon. The process of erasing the picture took Rauschenberg weeks to complete. The resulting work, “Erased de Kooning Drawing,” could be seen as a gesture of succession - but, Rauschenberg insisted, not one of destruction.)

Piet Mondrian “Composition in Red, White, and Blue” / vomit

(In 1996, a twenty-two year old art student named Jubal Brown ate blue cake icing and blue Jell-O prior to entering the MoMA. Once inside, he proceeded to make himself projectile vomit onto the work, staining the work blue. “I found its lifelessness threatening and it made me sick,” he later said. Damages were able to be repaired.)

Banksy “Last Graffiti Before Motorway” / paint

Clyfford Still “1957-J no.2” / drunken fists, ass

(In January 2012, a woman named Carmen Tisch punched, scratched, and rubbed her bare ass against the painting. The damage was said to be minimal.)

Carmen Tisch

(In January 2012, the 36-year-old Tisch was arrested for attacking “1957-J no.2” by Clyfford Still, then on view at the Clyfford Still Museum in Denver. Tisch punched and scratched the painting, then pulled down her pants, rubbed her ass against the work, and collapsed to the ground, where she urinated on herself. It was later confirmed that Tisch was drunk at the time. The damage to the painting was said to be minimal; Tisch was charged with criminal mischief.)

Seward Johnson “Marilyn” / paint

(Installed in the summer of 2011 in Chicago, the 26-ft statue of Marilyn Monroe was vandalized twice before the end of the year: first by taggers, then again by unidentified vandals who splashed red paint under Monroe’s dress, the paint running down her leg.)

rock art / spray paint

(In 2011, a teenager known as “Pee Wee” was arrested and charged with tagging a series of rock art panels in the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area in Nevada. The panels dated back to 1000 AD and included both pictographs (paintings and drawings on rock) and petroglyphs (drawings scraped and ground onto the surface of the rock).)

Rembrandt “Danae” / acid, knife

(In 1985, a museum visitor attacked the painting, slashing the canvas twice with a knife before splashing it with sulfuric acid. The entire central part of the composition was reduced to a “dark, bubbling, foul-smelling mass that trickled down to the bottom of the the frame and from there onto the floor.” The man was later judged legally insane. The damage was restored over the course of the next twelve years, and the painting was returned to public viewing in 1997.)

Vasily Vereshchagin “Holy Family” and “Resurrection” / acid

(In 1880, an exhibit of the Russian painter’s work in Vienna drew opposition from the Catholic Church. The controversy culminated in a monk splashing acid on the paintings, destroying them as a result. Photographs of neither work are currently available.)

Joan Miro “World Trade Center Tapestry” / rubble

(The tapestry was commissioned especially for the lobby of 2 World Trade Center in 1974; it was destroyed in the events of Sept. 11, 2001)

artist unknown “Vladimir Lenin” / paint

(Originally produced in 1965, this Lenin bust was identical to many others installed throughout Russia: plaster-cast, painted dark to resemble a bronze patina, and displayed in public places across the East Bloc. In 1989, during the Monday Demonstrations (a series of peaceful political protests against the government which ultimately lead to the breakdown of the communist regime), this particular bust was defaced by protesters.)

cast of Auguste Rodin’s “The Thinker” (Cleveland) / pipe bomb

(1970)

Leonardo da Vinci “The Mona Lisa” / various

(Along with several successful thefts, the painting has been attacked by vandals on numerous occasions:

a) In 1956, the lower part of the painting was severely damaged when a man doused the painting with acid.

b) Also in 1956, a man threw a rock at the painting, damaging the canvas near ML’s left elbow.

c) In 1974, a handicapped woman, upset by the museum’s policy for the disabled, sprayed red paint at the work while it was on display at the Tokyo National Museum. The painting, behind glass, was unharmed. 

d) In 2009, a Russian woman, distraught over being denied French citizenship, threw a terra cotta mug (purchased at the Louvre gift shop) at the painting. The mug shattered against the glass enclosure, leaving the painting unharmed. )

cast of Auguste Rodin’s “The Thinker” (Buenos Aires) / spray paint

Mondrians / spray paint

vandalized by artist Ivan Argote, who filmed his actions and released the footage as a work titled “Retouch”

Kazimir Malevich “Suprematism (White Cross)” (1927) / spray paint

On January 4 1997, this work was damaged while on view at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. Alexander Brener, a Russian performance artist, smuggled a canister of green spray paint into the gallery and used it to paint a large dollar sign onto the canvas. Brener surrendered on site, claiming his action had been a performance protesting “corruption and commercialism in the art world.” He later clarified that his act had not been one of violence: “What I did WAS NOT against the painting. I view my act as a dialogue with Malewitz [sic].” 

The work was permanently damaged. Brener was eventually convicted and served six months in a Dutch prison.