A woman damaged a canvas worth more than $ 30 million at the Denver Museum

Investigators are trying to determine why the woman caused damage of $ 10 thousand to a large canvas in the spirit of expressionism in the Clifford Still Museum, first striking and scratching it, and then taking off his pants and driving through the painting.

Carmen Tisch, 36, is accused of malicious hooliganism, namely the attack on the painting on December 29, the press secretary of the district attorney, Lynn Kimbrough, said. Canvas called 1957-J-No. 2 is estimated at more than $ 30 million. A large collage of black, white and burgundy brushstrokes with silver and yellow belongs to Still’s mid-period.

Representatives of the museum report that they consider the security adequate to the institution and that they regularly evaluate the guards for the protection of the collection and visitors. The museum’s spokeswoman, Regan Petersen, reports that the custodians “reacted quickly and appropriately; the police were called immediately and the attacker was taken into custody. ”

Denver got the collection during a difficult tender, promising to build a building for paintings and sculptures. Still, who died in 1980, indicated in his will that his property would go to that American city that wants to create a stationary museum of his works. He was one of the first impressionist abstractionists who began working after the end of World War II. The museum raised $ 32 million in private donations for the new building, equipment, and work, Petersen says. The city of Denver also received 99 million thanks to auctioning four of Still’s works.

Visitors to the gallery on Thursday say they were shocked by the attack. Rachel Gelbman and Kristin Shaw from Denver say they saw the painting at the Denver Museum of Art and found that it disappeared when replaced by another painting from 1956-1958. For them, the work was not the same. “What does one have to find on a person to do this?” Gelbman asked when the guard ran into the building.

In 2010, a woman from Montana was accused of carrying scrap to the Loveland Museum of Art at an exhibition that critics declared obscene. According to art historians, the exhibit depicted Jesus Christ participating in sexual intercourse. The artist, a professor at Stanford University, Enrique Chagoya, argued that the work represented his vision of corruption in religious institutions. Kathleen Falden is accused of damaging the comic.

Tish was delayed until the payment of 20 thousand dollars. The court records do not indicate whether she has a lawyer; A telephone listing was not provided.

In the museum, on the wall, which once had Still’s painting, the artist summed up his philosophy of art: “I never wanted color to be color, texture to texture, images to images. I wanted them all to blend into a living spirit. ”