Gauguin Painting Survives Viewer’s Assault

A visitor to the National Gallery in Washington apparently saw something she really didn’t like in Gauguin’s “Two Tahitian Women.” Last Friday, she allegedly rushed the lush image and set to it with her fists, to the alarm of onlookers and gallery staff.  —KA

The Washington Post:

Screaming “This is evil,” a woman tried to pull Gauguin’s “Two Tahitian Women” from a gallery wall Friday and banged on the picture’s clear plastic covering, said Pamela Degotardi of New York, who was there.

“She was really pounding it with her fists,” Degotardi said. “It was like this weird surreal scene that one doesn’t expect at the National Gallery.”

Gallery spokeswoman Deborah Ziska said no damage to the 1899 painting was immediately apparent after the 4:45 p.m. incident. But she said a more thorough examination will be conducted Monday.

Read more

AP / National Gallery of Art

“Two Tahitian Women” is part of a Gauguin exhibit that opened in the nation’s capital in late February.