A modern art installation valued at euro800,000 ($1.1 million) was damaged after an overzealous cleaning woman scrubbed away a patina intended to look like a dried rain puddle, a Dortmund official said Friday. 
 
 In this picture taken Thursday Nov. 3, 2011 a man passes the sculpture "Wenn's anfaengt durch die Decke zu tropfen" ( "When it Starts Dripping from the Ceiling" ) by German artist Martin Kippenberger... (Associated Press) 
 
 Picture taken Thursday Nov. 3, 2011 shows the base of the sculpture "Wenn's anfaengt durch die Decke zu tropfen" ( "When it Starts Dripping from the Ceiling" ) by German artist Martin Kippenberger in... (Associated Press) 
 
 Martin Kippenberger's "When it Starts Dripping from the Ceiling" remains in place at the city's Ostwall museum, despite the damage sustained earlier this month when a cleaner scrubbed away the painted puddle beneath a rubber trough placed under a stacked tower of wooden slats. 
 
 The work by Kippenberger, a German-born artist who died in 1997, was on loan to the museum from a private collector, who agreed that it should remain on display despite the incident, said Dortmund city spokeswoman Dagmar Papajewski. In the meantime, insurance adjusters are assessing the damage. 
 
 It has not yet been decided whether the patina would be restored, or if the artwork would be left in its newly "cleaned" condition, Papajewski said. 
 
 "It will be up to the collector to decide," Papajewski said. "We can't consult Kippenberger about it." 
 
 Papajewski said the company that employed the cleaning staff had instructed them to stay at least 20 centimeters (8 inches) away from the artwork and it was not clear why the patina had fallen victim to the woman's scrubbing brush. 
 
 "This company has been working with us since last October," Papajewski said. 
 
 Kippenberger's works have been displayed at New York's Museum of Modern Art and London's Tate Modern. ||||| A determined German cleaner destroyed a piece of art valued at £690,000 by cleaning away what she thought was an unsightly stain from the artwork. 
 
 The cleaner got to work on an installation by the late and famed artist Martin Kippenberger at a museum in Dortmund. 
 
 Entitled “When It Starts Dripping From The Ceilings” the piece comprised a tower of wooden slats with a plastic bowl at the bottom painted brown to give the impression of discolouration caused by water. The cleaner took the paint to be an actual stain and scrubbed the bowl till it looked new. 
 
 “It is now impossible to return it to its original state,” a museum spokeswoman said, adding that it appeared the cleaner was unaware of museum rules prohibiting cleaning staff getting with 20 centimetres of pieces or art. 
 
 Kippenberger was regarded as one of the finest artists of his generation until his death in 1997 aged just 44. His work now commands a high value and earlier this year one sculpture was sold at Christie’s in London for £1,329250.
– She thought she was just doing her job; instead, she was forever altering a $1.1 million artwork. A cleaner in a German museum spotted what she thought was an unintended stain on a sculpture and decided to wash it off. The piece by the late Martin Kippenberger, “When It Starts Dripping from the Ceilings,” is a wooden structure with a bowl underneath. The bowl is painted to appear discolored by dripping water. The cleaner made short work of the paint job, the Telegraph reports. “It is now impossible to return it to its original state,” says a museum rep, noting that cleaners are not supposed to come within 8 inches of a work. The piece will, however, remain on display, the AP notes.