A Russian security guard made the million-dollar mistake to draw some eyes on a painting's deliberately featureless face to cure his boredom.
The painting 'Three Figures' by artist Anna Leporskaya was on display at the Yeltsin Centre in Ekaterinburg as part of an exhibition called “The World as Non-Objectiveness: The Birth of a New Art".
The security guard faces up to three months in prison after he vandalised the painting with a ballpoint pen after reportedly being "bored".
The painting was insured for 74.9 million roubles, just under $1.5 million NZD.
"His motives are still unknown but the administration believes it was some kind of a lapse in sanity," 7news reported exhibition curator Anna Reshetkina said.
Alexander Vasiliev, 63, a war hero that was revealed as the security guard, said he was a "fool" for what he did.
"'To be honest, I didn't really like these pictures [at the exhibition]," the Daily Mail reported he said.
He claimed two young girls told him it was their painting and to draw eyes on it.
He believed them because he thought the painting looked like a children painting, he had no idea it was worth so much.
The Yeltsin Centre said the security guard was an employee of a private organisation that works for the centre and an investigation with law enforcement agencies is underway.
"The painting is being restored, the damage, according to the expert, can be eliminated without consequences for the work of art," the centre said.
