Drunken vandals rip priceless Monet painting

DRUNKEN vandals broke into a Paris museum on Sunday and punched a hole through a priceless Monet painting.

The gang entered the Orsay Museum through a back door during the city’s annual all-night festival, which brings thousands to the streets for concerts and exhibitions.

CCTV caught a group entering the museum, which houses a huge collection of Impressionist art.

An alarm sounded and the group left, but not before damaging Le Pont d’Argenteuil, a view of the Seine featuring a bridge and boats.

The painting has a horizontal tear of four inches which exposes threads of canvas but experts hope it can be fully restored.

Culture Minister Christine Albanel said: “We know there were four or five people, likely four boys and a girl, who entered around midnight to 1am, broke a door that was, perhaps, fragile.

“It appears they were drunk. Someone punched the magnificent masterpiece by Monet.

“It’s always a heart break when an art object that is our memory, our heritage, that we love and that we are proud of is victim of a purely criminal act.”

Claude Monet led the 19th century Impressionist movement, experimenting notably with light and colour in works now deemed priceless.

Ms Albanel called for tougher penalties for vandalism against works of art.

She said she had already raised the matter with Justice Minister Rachida Dati.

The Musée d’Orsay, opened in 1986 in a former railway station, contains France’s largest collection of late 19th and early 20th century art.

Several recent incidents have raised questions over the security of works of art in French museums.

Today, a woman is to appear in court after she painted a lipstick kiss in July on a picture by the American Cy Twombly in Avignon.