As I was reading the New York Times online, I came across an article about a break in to a Paris museum. The break in happened at the Musé D’Orsay early Sunday morning. In the break in a painting by Claude Monet was damaged. In the article, which can be found here, a picture of the damage is shown. I was just in Paris a little over a year ago and actually visited this museum. I can’t believe that someone would just enter a museum, a place where art history is preserved and decide to punch a hole in a painting. It may have caught people’s attention, but damaging a painting seems like the worst thing you could do to get attention. The damage was to a painting done in the impressionist era of the Seine River. Its not a political or at all controversial. It instead was just a lasting piece of art that should be enjoyed by all. So far no arrests have been made. The French Cultural minister thinks that the 4 inch rip in the canvas can still be preserved. What makes someone want to do that though? Was it anger, was it publicity, or was it just a drunken rage. I hope that once arrests are made, we will get a better idea of why a person would want to damage the painting. It just seems so pointless and difficult for me to understand. If it was a political or offensive painting I could better understand their thinking, although I would still feel hatred towards their actions. Also if the reason was rage I would have expected more paintings to have been vandalized. I just hope the person is caught and punished.