One of Ren\u00e9 Magritte\u2019s most famous works, The Castle of the Pyrenees\u00a0(1959) housed at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, has been damaged by a child who pierced the Surrealist canvas with a pinecone.<\/p>\n
According to the Times of Israel<\/a>, the young boy, who visited the museum several weeks ago with his family, found the cone in the museum garden. He subsequently approached the Magritte canvas, puncturing the piece. The museum was contacted for comment about how long the work will be off display.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re experienced in conserving paintings and objects that arrive in poor condition, including works that have been stored since the Holocaust period,\u201d\u00a0Sharon Tager, the museum\u2019s head of conservation, told the publication Haaretz<\/a>. The conservation process on the Magritte painting will involve treating the layers of paint and mending the canvas, said Tager.<\/p>\n The Magritte painting, depicting an enormous boulder crowned with a castle floating above a choppy sea, has a colourful history<\/a>. In the 1950s, the lawyer Harry Torczyne had a window facing an ugly building in his New York office and decided the best way to mask the offensive view would be to ask one of his clients to paint something to cover it. The client was\u00a0Magritte and the painting that emerged from this odd request was The Castle of the Pyrenees.<\/p>\n