It seems that Nicholas Morley, son of art collector Harold Morley, decided to alter the look and value of one of his father’s paintings. Harold consigned a Christopher Wool painting (valued at $2.95M) to Opera Gallery in Aspen, Colorado. On May 1, Nicholas flew from the UK to Colorado, entered the gallery, and slashed his father’s painting with a razor. The motive is not yet known … maybe he thought he would improve its value by turning it into a Fontana?
In a letter that Harold sent to the gallery, attempting to play down the whole incident, he is quoted as saying We could even put it up for sale now for $3.5m on the basis it is ‘famous’.
Source: Suspicious man uses knife to destroy $3 million painting in Aspen gallery | AspenTimes.com