The Pompidou Centre, located in Paris, announced Tuesday that a work by famous street artist Banksy depicting a rat with a masked muzzle waving a pencil had been stolen from an entrance panel by the underground parking.
The modern art museum added that it has filed a complaint "for theft and property damage".
"We assume that the metal panel was cut with a saw. We are not the owners of the work, which is why we filed a complaint, mentioning property damage", the Pompidou Centre's communications department said Tuesday.
#Banksy pic.twitter.com/o7YBbfgi7B
— Centre Pompidou (@CentrePompidou) 3 сентября 2019 г.
Though the famous street artist didn't warn anybody about the graffiti prior to painting it, director of the National Museum of Modern Art and owner of the parking lot said back in 2018 that it was their duty to protect the work.
This is the second Banksy painting stolen this year from Paris. In January, it was reported that graffiti depicting a grieving woman dedicated to the victims of the 13 November 2015 attacks was stolen from the Bataclan theatre.
