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26th Nov 2013

What a waste of Monet – Irish man “felt faint” before collapsing onto painting worth €10m

Felt faint and then felt paint...

Eoghan Doherty

As Jessie J sang in her ode to the French Impressionist, “it’s not about the Monet, Monet, Monet. We don’t need your Monet, Monet, Monet. We just wanna make the world dance. Forget about the Price Tag.”

Forgetting about the price tag of a damaged painting worth €10m is probably something that Andrew Shannon wishes he could do. According to The Independent, the Irishman is accused of knocking a hole through Ireland’s only painting by Claude Monet, entitled ‘Argenteuil Basin with a Single Sailboat’ (1874).

Mr Shannon, who is accused of putting a hole through the famous oil-painting at the National Gallery of Ireland, had told two nearby tourists who witnessed the incident that he “felt faint”, before collapsing onto the painting.

The collapse subsequently resulted in €7m worth of damage and is almost as bad as the time that JOE spilled a glass of Ribena over our little brother’s colour-by-numbers drawing of Dora the Explorer.

Almost.

According to Brendan Grehan, the man tasked with defending Mr Shannon, his client accepts that the damage to the painting was caused by his hand coming into contact with the painting, and also pointed out that his client has a history of heart problems, having been taken to hospital by ambulance after the incident.

Mr Shannon pleaded not guilty to causing criminal damage to the painting at the National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin on June 29, 2012 and the trial is expected to last up to five days.

Let’s just hope Mr Shannon has made a good, ahem, impression on the judge and jury.

Get it? Impression? It’s an art joke becau… never mind. Philistines.

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damage