A woman attacked the painting entitled “Two Tahitian Women” in the National Gallery in Washington DC.

On 1 April, Susan Burns, pounded the plexiglass cover between the canvas and the frame of the painting and tried to rip it from the wall. She was detained by a museum security officer and charged with attempted theft and destruction of property. The painting was unharmed.

The work is an 1899 piece depicting two bare-breasted women looking serene and offering a bowl of flowers. Curators describe it as a painting which “captures Gauguin’s mythical idea of Tahiti as a paradise of beautiful, mysterious women.” It is currently on loan from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Burns, reportedly from Virginia, apparently told the police the painting should be burned. She was quoted as saying, “I feel that Gauguin is evil…He has nudity and is bad for the children. He has two women in the painting and it’s very homosexual.”

A witness to the incident, Pamela Degotardi, told The Washington Post, “She was really pounding it with her fists. It was like this weird surreal scene that one doesn’t expect at the National Gallery.”

“Two Tahitian Women” was put back on display on Tuesday after being assessed for damage.