Visitor Breaks $42K Jeff Koons Sculpture At South FL Art Festival

MIAMI, FL — A visitor to Art Wynwood in Miami accidentally knocked over and broke artist Jeff Koons’ “Blue Dog” sculpture worth about $42,000, according to multiple reports.

The fragile, bright blue, sculpture — created in 2021 and made of porcelain — was on display during Thursday’s VIP preview night at Bel-Air Fine Art’s booth at the art festival.

The visitor, a woman, accidentally kicked the podium the artwork was displayed on, causing it to fall and shatter into tiny pieces, Local 10 News reported.

One witness, artist and art collector Stephen Gamson, told the Miami Herald, though, that he saw the woman tap the sculpture with her finger, knocking it over — likely to see if it was really inflatable.

“Before I knew it, they were picking up the Jeff Koons pieces in a dustpan with a broom,” he told the New York Times.

In an Instagram post, Gamson wrote that he was pointing out the sculpture as the woman knocked it over.

“I actually witnessed the whole thing. It shattered into a thousand pieces. One of the most crazy things I’ve ever seen,” he wrote.

He also said he’s interested in purchasing the sculpture’s shards.

“I tried to purchase the broken sculpture. It has a really cool story,” Gamson wrote. “You will see this all over the news in over 30 countries and in many different languages. It’s going global.”

Cédric Boero, district manager for France and business development at Bel-Air Fine Art, told the Times, “Life just stopped for 15 minutes with everyone around, like security.”

An art advisor with Bel-Air Fine Art told the Miami Herald that the woman wouldn’t be asked to pay for the piece, as it was covered by insurance.

And the sculpture isn’t lost entirely. Koons made 799 copies of the blue balloon dog when he created it, meaning there are still 798 left.