Guy Defaces Rothko Mural in Broad Daylight

A man sat in front of a Mark Rothko mural at the Tate Modern yesterday and—in front of a number of onlookers—defaced the painting with black paint. "By the time we turned around he was pretty much finished with his tag," says one museumgoer, who tweeted a picture of the vandalism. Black on Maroon, a 1958 canvas, is worth millions, the Guardian reports. The vandal quickly left the scene, and a police investigation is under way.

The graffiti appears to read "a potential piece of yellowism" and include the name "Vladimir." Yellowism is an artistic movement, and one of the people who runs it is named Vladimir Umanets, the Guardian notes. (More Tate Modern stories.)