The iconic “Balloon Dog” sculpture by artist Jeff Koons is now in shards having been accidentally knocked over by an art collector at a Miami gallery.
Art lovers in Miami looked on in horror on Thursday evening, when a collector accidentally knocked the $42,000 sculpture by US pop artist Jeff Koons to the ground.
She is reported to have tapped it with her finger.
The two-decade-old piece was blue porcelain and stood at roughly15 inches tall.
The accident happened during the exclusive VIP-only opening night of Art Wynwood, a contemporary art fair held annually in Miami, Florida.
The work was on display as part of the contemporary art fair Art Wynwood, according to a report by the Miami Herald Friday.
“When this thing fell to the ground, it was like how a car accident draws a huge crowd on the highway,” Stephen Gamson, a Wynwood–based artist and art collector, told the Herald.
The art collector who caused the damage has remained unnamed.
The sculpture was part of a limited edition which has now shrunk from 799 to 798.
Despite being shattered into thousands of pieces, there is still interest in buying the destroyed sculpture.
Jeff Koons, 68, has not made any comment on the incident.
His range of Balloon Dog sculptures are among the most iconic works of contemporary art, and have sold for tens of millions of dollars.
In 2019 Koons made history when his Rabbit sculpture sold at auction for $91.1m (£71m) – the highest sale price ever for a living artist.
