Mental Illness? Or Art Critic?

There was a time that such behavior would have been recognized as mental illness on the first try.  From August 15, 2011 WTOP:

WASHINGTON (AP) - A woman who attacked a painting at Washington's National Gallery of Art earlier this year has struck again, police say, this time lashing out against a Henri Matisse painting at the museum.

Susan Burns of Alexandria, Va., was arrested Aug. 5 after police said she walked over to Matisse's 1919 painting "The Plumed Hat," and slammed the painting repeatedly against a wall, damaging its frame but not the $2.5 million painting.

She was apparently told not to go to museums after the first incident.  Now she is hospitalized--although I suspect not for long.  


Look, I share her opinion of Gauguin's "Two Tahitian Women," (her first artwork victim), but I am content to merely dislike his technique.


UPDATE: Ordinarily, making such a claim might be a sign that you are trying to set up an insanity defense in court--but the rest of the details suggest that he may indeed have a mental problem.  From the August 15, 2011 Galveston Daily News:

GALVESTON — A man claiming to be a vampire faces felony burglary charges stemming from an incident early Saturday morning.

According to the report, a woman was in bed when a man broke into her apartment. He then began to make hissing and growling noises while biting and striking the woman.

The woman called police and described the suspect as a white male with multiple tattoos, wearing only boxer shorts.