Caught in the act by a smartphone camera, police have video
recordings to help them search for a man who spray-painted Pablo
Picasso’s “Woman in a Red Armchair” at a Houston art museum.
Officials say the vandalism happened Wednesday afternoon at the Menil
Collection, where the 1929 painting is one of nine Picassos. Menil
spokesman Vance Muse tells the Houston Chronicle that museum security officers detected
the vandalism almost immediately, when the paint was barely dry. Chief
conservator Brad Epley began repair work immediately, and Muse says the
painting has “an excellent prognosis.”