One of Jeff Koons’ reflective “Gazing Balls” was shattered into pieces, after a curious visitor touched it in an Amsterdam church. The glass work was on display in an exhibition at Nieuwe Kerk (a 15th Century church known for its high-profile art exhibitions) when it was destroyed on the last day of the show.
In the “Gazing Ball” series the artist has taken 35 masterpieces, including Manet’s Déjeuner sur l’Herbe, Géricault’s Raft of the Medusa and Rembrandt’s Self-Portrait Wearing a Hat and had them repainted in oil on canvas, and added a little shelf, painted as if it had sprouted directly from the image and placed a blue glass orb upon them, as a follow-up to his 2013 series that balanced gazing balls on plaster sculptures.
The gazing ball was the centerpiece of the exhibition. A spokesperson for Nieuwe Kerk confirmed that a visitor had touched the glass ball, which immediately broke, leaving behind shards. The painting itself remains undamaged, and no one was injured.
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