Museum staff secretly exhibit their own paintings in a 'reverse painting thief' incident, employee fired and faces up to two years in prison



Many artists dream of their work being in the limelight, but only a handful of artists have their paintings displayed in the galleries of famous art museums. An aspiring artist was fired from

the Pinakothek der Moderne, an art museum in Germany, after exhibiting his own paintings without permission.

The Pinakothek of modern architecture - Munich - SZ.de
https://www.sueddeutsche.de/muenchen/muenchen-pinakothek-the-modern-mitarbeiter-eigenes-building-1.6532007

German art museum fires worker for hanging his own painting in gallery | Germany | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/09/german-art-museum-fires-worker-for-hanging-his-own-painting-in-gallery

German museum worker fires after hanging his own art in gallery | CNN
https://edition.cnn.com/2024/04/10/style/museum-worker-fired-hanging-own-art-scli-intl/index.html

A Reverse Art Heist? Museum Finds Employee's Painting on Its Wall - The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/10/world/europe/germany-painting-museum.html

The Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich, Germany, is one of the largest art museums in Germany, with a collection of over 20,000 works by masters such as Pablo Picasso, Paul Klee, and Andy Warhol.

On April 15, 2024, the Pinakothek der Moderne announced that a 51-year-old male employee who worked as a technical staff member at the museum had brought in and exhibited his own painting. The problem occurred on February 26, when the work in question was displayed on the gallery wall for a full day and then removed after closing time.


by

Digital Cat

The staff member was working on setting up an exhibition that was being prepared at the time and was able to enter the museum after closing time without being detected and take the paintings and all of its tools.

A museum spokesperson told media: 'Technical staff from one of the four museums representing the Pinakothek der Moderne set up an exhibit in an exhibition room at the Museum of Modern Art outside of opening hours. As a result of the incident the staff member has been banned from the museum until further notice and his employment has been terminated.'

The painting, measuring 60 x 120 cm, was drilled into the wall and fixed with two screws, so the Munich Criminal Investigation Bureau is investigating it as damage to property. The total damage is estimated to be about 100 euros (about 16,000 yen), but if criminal prosecuted and convicted, it could be punished with a fine or up to two years in prison.

After the painting in question was discovered by another staff member, the former staff member came forward in an email to the museum, claiming to have hung his own painting on the wall as a freelance artist, which prompted the museum to contact police.



According to a report in the local newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, the former employee told police that he had brought the painting to the museum in the hope that exhibiting it would lead to his 'artistic breakthrough', and that his motive was to gain instant fame by having his work seen by a large number of people.

Details of the painting, such as its subject and style, are being withheld to prevent copycat thefts and vandalism, but a museum spokesman said: 'All I can say is that the painting in question has never received positive feedback from visitors to the gallery.'

In Germany, there was an incident in October 2023 when someone broke into the German National Gallery and stuck their own paintings to the wall with double-sided tape. Unlike this incident, no one noticed that the paintings had been added, and it was only after the exhibition was removed that it was discovered that there was an extra painting.

The German National Gallery posted on social media, 'We find this interesting and would like to know the artist of this painting. Please contact us, we promise you won't have any trouble.' This led to the painting being revealed to be a student named Danai Emanuilidis.



The painting, named 'Georgia,' was then auctioned off and sold for 3,696 euros (about 600,000 yen), with the entire amount donated to the Cologne art organization ArtAsyl.

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