£700k artwork ruined by overzealous cleaner

A cleaner in a German museum has ruined an artwork after mistaking paint for a stain.

The Martin Kippenberger installation, called When It Starts Dripping From the Ceiling, was on display at the Ostwall Museum in Dortmund.

The piece consisted of a rubber trough - complete with a layer of paint representing dried-on rain water - underneath a tower of wooden slats.

Mistaking the paint for a stain, a cleaner scrubbed the artwork, said to be worth around £700,000, until it was clean, Sky News reports.

"It is now impossible to return it to its original state," a spokesman said, adding that it will be up the owner, a private collector, to decide what to do with the piece.

The company that employed the cleaning staff had apparently told them to stay at least eight inches away from the artwork.

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