Employee who hung his own art in a German museum fired: ‘wanted to break through’

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Vladimir StoimenovDe entry to the modern art museum Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich

NOS Nieuws•vandaag, 18:55

An employee of a museum in Munich has been fired for hanging his own painting on the wall. In the modern art museum Pinakothek der Moderne, his artwork hung for eight hours among works by pop art icon Andy Warhol.

Last February, the 51-year-old man smuggled his painting in early in the morning and hung it in the part of the museum where a Warhol exhibition was at the time. Because of his position – he worked at the technical department – he had access to the museum outside opening hours. He was therefore able to hang the 60 by 120 centimeter painting without arousing the suspicion of security. It was given a spot on an empty white wall in the east wing of the museum.

The incident was only made public yesterday. A spokesperson for the museum tells The Guardian that museum employees quickly realized that the painting in question did not belong there. “The decision was made to leave the artwork hanging while the gallery was open and remove it after closing,” the spokesperson said.

‘Hope for artistic breakthrough’

The German newspaper Southgerman newspaper reports based on police sources that the 51-year-old employee hoped for “his artistic breakthrough”. “He considers himself an artist and most likely saw his role in the museum’s installation team as a daily task to support his true calling,” the Pinakothek spokesperson told The Guardian.

According to the spokesperson, the artwork did not receive positive feedback from visitors and therefore did not achieve its intended breakthrough. The museum fired the aspiring artist and also filed a complaint against him for deliberately damaging property: he drilled two small holes in the wall to hang his painting.

The Pinakothek der Moderne is considered one of the most important museums in Munich. The permanent collection contains more than 20,000 works, including paintings by Pablo Picasso, Max Beckmann and Paul Klee.