German Museum Worker Fired After Sneaking Own Painting onto Display

A fifty-one-year-old staffer at Munich’s Pinakothek der Moderne was sacked after hanging his own painting in one of the museum’s galleries. TheNew York Timesreports that the unnamed artist, who worked in the museum’s technical services division, was assisting in the installation of an architecture exhibit outside the museum’s public hours this past February, when he entered a gallery displaying modern and contemporary art. His passage having gone unnoticed, thanks to the tools he carried with him, he drilled two small holes in the wall and hung his own roughly two-by-four-foot painting alongside works by such luminaries as Andy Warhol.

According to German dailySuddeutche Zeitung—which first reported the incident on Monday, after the museum madenewsof its occurrence public—police determined that the worker had committed the transgression “in the hope of achieving his artistic breakthrough.” Unfortunately for him, the work was noticed within hours of the museum’s opening after he hung it and was removed immediately following the institution’s 6 p.m. close. A museum spokesperson toldThe Guardianthat the Pinakothek was withholding details regarding the artist’s identity and the painting’s style in order to discourage copycats, further noting that it had not received any “positive feedback” on the painting from visitors.

Besides firing the staffer, reported to be respected by his colleagues, the museum has filed a criminal complaint against him, for willful damage to property in drilling the holes necessary to hang the work. As well, he is banned from visiting the institution. “You can’t really have a person like that guarding the high-security wing,” a spokeswoman told the Times.