Plenty of artists are waiting for their big break, but secretly hanging your work in an established museum gallery certainly isn’t the best way to achieve stardom.
It was an unfortunate realization for one German man who was fired from his job at Munich’s Pinakothek der Moderne museum after he sneakily mounted his own painting in an empty hallway leading to a modern art exhibition in February.
On Monday, museum officials made news of the incident public and said they fired the unnamed 51-year-old employee, who formerly worked as a member of the technical services team.
In a statement to the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, police said the ex-employee describes himself as a freelance artist.
A spokesperson for the gallery said the smuggled artwork was not on display for very long, adding that supervisors in the museum noticed the unapproved addition “immediately.” According to The Guardian, the employee’s artwork hung in the gallery for eight hours and was only removed after the museum closed in the evening.
It is believed the employee mounted his own painting before the museum’s opening hours, as he had access to the exhibition.
Authorities said the man hung his art in the hopes it would lead to a popular breakthrough for him and his work.
Police are investigating the incident over claims the employee drilled two holes into a wall to hang his painting, causing property damage. He is not being investigated for any other criminal behaviour.
The painting, which measured 60 by 120 centimetres, was returned to the artist after it was removed. The former employee was banned from visiting the museum again.
The museum has refused to provide details or images of the employee’s painting for fear of inciting “copycat pranksters.”
“All I can say is that we did not receive any positive feedback on the addition from visitors to the gallery,” a spokesperson told The Guardian.
The Pinakothek der Moderne holds more than 20,000 artworks inside its four modern and contemporary collections, including paintings by Pablo Picasso, René Magritte and Salvador Dalí.
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