Art Attack

Woman Beats Gauguin Painting

Screaming “this is evil” at the National Gallery.

Maybe it was performance art? A woman tried to pull Paul Gauguin’s Two Tahitian Women from a wall in the National Gallery in Washington, D.C., screaming “this is evil.” “She was really pounding it with her fists,” said a Pamela Degotardi, who was at the gallery. “It was like this weird surreal scene that one doesn’t expect at the National Gallery.” The attacker was tackled by a social worker from the Bronx who was also visiting the exhibit. Gallery spokeswoman Deborah Ziska says no damage to the 1899 painting was found, but a further examination is pending. The woman is being charged with destruction of property and attempted theft.