Child damages €50 million Rothko painting in Dutch museum

A child has damaged a multi-million pound painting by American artist Mark Rothko at a museum in Rotterdam.

A spokesman for the Boijmans Van Beuningen museum said it was considering “next steps” for the handling of Rothko’s painting “Gray, Orange on Maroon,” No. 8.

The damage occurred during a "careless moment," a museum spokesperson told Dutch media outlet Algemeen Dagblad (AD) last week.

A museum spokesman told the BBC that the damage was "superficial", adding: "Small scratches are visible in the unvarnished layer of paint at the bottom of the painting."

The abstract painting is estimated to be worth up to 50 million euros, according to the AD newspaper.

"Conservation expertise has been sought in the Netherlands and abroad. We are currently looking into the next steps for the treatment of the painting," a museum spokesman told the BBC.

"We hope that the work will be able to be displayed again in the future," they added.

Sophie McAloone, conservation manager at the Fine Art Restoration Company, said that “unvarnished modern” paintings like Rothko’s Gray, Orange on Maroon, No. 8, are “particularly susceptible to damage.”

This is "due to a combination of their complex modern materials, the lack of a traditional coating layer and the intensity of flat fields of colour, which make even the smallest areas of damage immediately perceptible," she said.

"In this case, scratching the top layers of paint can have a significant impact on the experience of viewing the work," McAloone added.