Museum Security Expert Speaks

"Just How Safe Is Great Art?"

There are many types of protection. Some paintings are protected from theft. They might have transmitters behind them, or they might have a miniature camera embedded in the ceiling above that looks down and has the ability to analyze the motion in front of the painting and alert when somebody gets so close that they might touch. There might be some sort of a beam in front of the painting that breaks the beam when you reach into it.

But it’s pretty darn hard to protect a painting from somebody throwing a can of soup at it. It’s very, very difficult...