Witness films man vandalizing a Picasso, told not to film in museum

Shooter may have prevented permanent damage, but a security guard was more concerned with following the rules

A witness happened to be in the right place at the right time when he saw someone vandalizing Picasso's 1929 masterpiece "Woman in Red Armchair" at a Houston museum.

The witness started recording while walking toward the vandal, which could have caused the vandal to run away. But the person recording the video is then approached a security guard and sternly warned about taking pictures in the museum.

The 24-second video posted to YouTube shows a man dressed in black holding a stencil up to the artwork and spray-painting it before ripping away the stencil and walking away. The vandal spray painted a bull and the word "conquista," Spanish for conquest, in the middle of the painting.

According to The Associated Press, the masterpiece was rushed to a lab like an injured patient and saved.

Officials at the Texas art museum say most of the damage to the more than 80-year-old painting has been fixed and restoration has been "going very well." Luckily for the museum and people hoping to see Picasso's work in the original form, the damage was caught in time while the paint was still wet.

"Most of the damage, virtually has been taken care of," said Vance Muse, a spokesman for the Menil Collection, which owns the painting, to AP. "But you have to wait and see."

This isn't the first time a Picasso has been vandalized. In 1999, an escaped mental patient in Amsterdam cut a hole in the middle of "Woman Nude Before Garden."

Rembrandt's "Night Watch" has been slashed twice and the "Mona Lisa" has been attacked with acid, a rock and a teacup.

Houston police continue to investigate and have not laid any charges yet. They are using surveillance and the cellphone video taken by the person to conduct the investigation.

Muse can't say when the painting will be returned to display.

With files from The Canadian Press