A 91-YEAR-OLD woman filled in a crossword at Nuremberg’s Neues Museum earlier this week – only to discover it was a piece of modern art worth €80,000.
But she probably can be forgiven for thinking it was there to be filled out: The Telegraph reports that the work, ‘Reading-work-piece’ by Arthur Kopcke, is essentially a blank crossword puzzle.
What’s more, there was a sign next to the piece that reads ‘Insert words’.
The museum director Eva Kraus claims they had to report the incident to the police for insurance reasons – the woman was questioned, and told officers she was just following the instructions.
The lady told us she had taken the notes as an invitation to complete the crossword.
Kraus says they know the lady did not mean any harm, and the damage would be fairly easy to repair. They plan to put up a sign informing future visitors not to fill the blanks.
The work was given to the museum by a private collector, whom Kraus says is taking the whole thing very well:
We will let the lady know that the collector took the damage to the work in good humour, so she doesn’t have a sleepless night.
