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Art lovers were horrified when two parents let their children clamber all over a multi-million pound sculpture at Tate Modern.

A visitor took a photograph of the family of four after she saw the children crawling on the installation, by American artist Donald Judd.

Stephanie Theodore, a gallery owner from New York, posted the picture on Twitter, with the words: “Holy crap. Horrible kids, horrible parents.” Today she told the Standard the parents had been encouraging their two daughters to play on the sculpture — and refused to back down when she confronted them.

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She said: “I was shocked. I said to the parents I didn’t think their kids should be playing on a $10 million artwork. The woman turned around and told me I didn’t know anything about kids and she was sorry if I ever had any.”

Ms Theodore alerted staff but the family had moved on. She said: “I don’t know who they are but I just know you don’t put your kid on a sculpture.

“It wasn’t just the kids, the parents were encouraging them … It isn’t about monetary value, it is a museum, not a playground.”The photograph went viral on the internet, with hundreds of art lovers expressing their outrage.

A spokeswoman for Tate Modern said: “Tate welcomes families to all of its galleries. On Sunday a child lay on the bottom part of the Donald Judd sculpture Untitled 1980. The situation was dealt with immediately.”

Other examples of Judd’s work have sold for $3 million (£1.8 million), although this sculpture is one of the best known and experts say it is worth far more.