OSCAR MURILLO WORK IS PILFERED FROM MOMA, THEN RESTORED

Brian Boucher reported at Artnet on Friday that an Oscar Murillo painting, one of eight that were installed on the floor of the exhibition “The Forever Now: Contemporary Painting in an Atemporal World,” was stolen from the show.

Colin Moynihan of the New York Times now reports that, over the weekend, the work was returned. A spokeswoman for the museum, Margaret Doyle, said that the work, 1/2s (Lessons in Aesthetics and Productivity)_, “was quickly returned without incident” after “security identified the visitor” who had removed the painting. Both the museum and a representative of David Zwirner—Murillo’s dealer—declined to identify the pilferer.

The piece in question is part of a series visitors can freely handle within the show, and it’s been returned to the floor of the gallery. Doyle said the museum gave its assurances that “there is the appropriate level of security in the exhibition.”