Charges have been brought against a woman who allegedly kissed a painting by American artist Cy Twombly, smudging the bone-white canvas with her lipstick, French judicial officials said.

Police arrested the woman after she allegedly kissed the work on Thursday.

She is to be tried in an Avignon court on August 16 for "damage to a work of art," judicial officials said.

The painting, which is worth an estimated £1 million, was on display at the Museum of Contemporary Art in the southern French city of Avignon.

It is part of an exhibition slated to run at the museum through September 30.

Born in Lexington, Virginia, in 1928, Twombly has lived in Italy for nearly half a century.

He won the prestigious Golden Lion award at the Venice Biennale in 2001.

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