Art attacks: From pissing in Duchamp's 'Fountain' to defacing a Rothko

The person who wandered into Tate Modern and brazenly scrawled on a Rothko at the weekend committed a totally unoriginal form of art protest.

More creative defacements of valuable artworks (not that I'm recommending that anyone do this) range from peeing in Marcel Duchamp's "Fountain" (which is a urinal) to vigorously kissing a Cy Twombly canvas while wearing red lipstick.

But whether you're jumping on Tracey Emin's unmade bed or graffiti-ing "Occupy" on a Damien Hirst sculpture, the causes of such "protest" will remain in the public consciousness for about as long as it takes to make the bed again or wipe the marker pen off.

Natural human clumsiness has claimed several far more dramatic (and eye-wateringly expensive) victims. Take a minute to think of the man who vomited on a Mondrian and another who put his elbow through a Picasso.

Here we round-up some of the most dramatic acts of art vandalism, both intentional and accidental.

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