Germany, museum worker hangs his work among Picassos and Matisses: fired

He was perhaps hoping to turn his artistic career around, but ended up fired and under investigation: this happened in Germany to an employee of the Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich, one of the country’s most important museums, with a collection that includes works by Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Oskar Kokoschka, Otto Dix, Umberto Boccioni, Giorgio De Chirico, Lucio Fontana, Francis Bacon, Henry Moore, and many other great artists of the 20th century. The man, a 51-year-old, who by trade is (or, it is better to say, used to be) a hall attendant in the German museum, and had a hobby of painting, smuggled in a painting of his own, also quite large (60 by 120 centimeters) and hung it among the institution’s masterpieces of modern art.

Reporting the curious affair is the Süddeutsche Zeitung. The painting was hung for only a few hours, since “janitors notice this kind of thing right away,” museum spokeswoman Tine Nehler told the newspaper. The attendant, by virtue of his duties, had access to the museum outside opening hours, so his act did not attract the attention of the public or his colleagues. The incident dates back to Feb. 23, although it was only made known the day before yesterday.

The painting was hung in the early morning hours, after which, when the museum was closed, so after 6 p.m., it was removed and returned to its author: it is not known, Nehler said, what it meant. The museum would not comment on the painting’s contents so as not to encourage any copycats. “All we can say is that we have not received any positive feedback from visitors,” the spokeswoman concluded.

After the action, the problems began for the employee: the museum in fact decided to terminate the working relationship with him, and at the moment he is also under investigation by the police, who are ascertaining whether the man damaged the room where he hung his painting (although it is minor damage, since the employee had simply drilled two holes in the wall of a corridor).

At present, however, the details of the act remain unclear. It is not known why the attendant hung the painting, what his goals were, what he intended to say. “The attendant,” a museum spokeswoman told the Guardian , “considers himself an artist and most likely saw his role on the museum team as a day job to support his true calling.” But more is not known at the moment.

Image: foyer of the Pinakothek der Moderne. Photo: Wikimedia/Rufus46

Germany, museum worker hangs his work among Picassos and Matisses: fired

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