One of Europe’s largest museums for contemporary and modern art has fired a member of its technical services team after he was found to have hung one of his own paintings in the gallery.
The 51-year-old man had smuggled his work into the display at Munich’s Pinakothek der Moderne “in the hope of achieving his artistic breakthrough”, the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung reported, citing police sources.
In his role at the museum, the man had access to the gallery space outside opening hours and did not raise attention of security staff when installing his 60cm by 120cm artwork in a passageway.
The incident on 23 February was not made public until Monday. While it was unclear for how long the painting remained on display, a spokesperson for the Pinakothek told Süddeutsche its window of fame was probably brief: “The invigilators notice something like that immediately,” they said.
No further detail on the painting’s subject or style was provided. The Pinakothek said it had terminated the contract of a member of its technical service team and banned him from entering its premises.
Police are investigating the aspiring modern master over a relatively minor infringement: in order to hang his painting he drilled two holes into the gallery wall, earning him a criminal complaint for wilful damage to property.
Situated in Munich’s Kunstareal museum quarter, the Pinakothek der Moderne was reopened in 2022 after a seven-year closure for construction works. Divided into art, architecture, design and works on paper from the 20th and 21st centuries, its permanent collection holds more than 20,000 works, including paintings by Pablo Picasso, Max Beckmann and Paul Klee.
