Visitor strikes Picasso painting

A NOTABLE painting by Pablo Picasso will undergo repairs after a visitor to New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art accidentally lost her balance and struck it.

The museum said the accident caused a vertical tear of about 6 inches in the lower right-hand corner of The Actor, painted by the artist during the winter of 1904-1905.

The museum says the damage did not affect the “focal point of the composition”.

Curatorial and conservation staff assessed the painting’s condition following Friday’s accident when a visitor struck the artwork.

The nearly 6x4ft canvas depicts an acrobat posed dramatically against an abstracted backdrop.