Marina Abramovic hit over the head with a painting of herself by man

A man hit legendary performance artist Marina Abramovic over the head with a painting of her own face during a recent appearance in Florence.

The attack took place as Abramovic left a book signing at the Palazzo Strozzi on Sunday, when he approached her with his portrait.

The man, identified in the Italian media as Czech born aspiring artist Vaclav Pisvejc, then attacked Abramovic with the portrait, which was framed but without glass.

A video posted online by Italian newspaper La Repubblica shows the portrait come down onto the artist, her head tearing through its centre.

Abramovic told the paper that the man “approached me looking into my eyes and I smiled at him thinking that [the painting] was a gift for me. In a split second I saw his expression change and become violent.”

Abramovic then also added that "danger always comes very quickly, like death."

Abramovic also said in a statement that she was stunned, but unhurt.

Marina Abramovic is known for her extreme performance works, one of which involved her standing still for six hours and inviting visitors to do whatever they liked to her with objects in the room, which included a loaded gun.

Abramovic is due to open a major exhibition at the Royal Academy in London in 2020, for which she has planned to shock herself with one million volts of electricity.