A security guard at an art gallery in west-central Russia was fired on his first day on the job for defacing a valuable painting. The guard allegedly took out a ballpoint pen and drew eyes on two of the three faceless figures in the piece of art because he was “bored”. His desire to do something other than defend the gallery’s artworks from similar mischief cost him his job. The vandalism occurred at the Boris Yeltsin Presidential Center in the city of Yekaterinburg in west-central Russia, where the painting was on display. Two visitors spotted the extra details on the figures and reported it to a gallery employee.

The guard is believed to have defaced the painting on December 7, 2021, but he was sacked this week after his identity was ascertained, stated a Metro report.

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The artwork, called ‘Three Figures’, was insured for 74.9 million Russian Rubles, which is the equivalent of 7,40,000 pounds (roughly $1 million or ₹ 7.51 crores), and was on display as part of an exhibition titled ‘The World as Non-Objectivity. The Birth of a New Art’. It was created by Anna Leporskaya, a student of Russian avant-garde artist Kazimir Malevich, between 1932 and 1934.

Read more: ndtv