German modern art gallery employee sacked after hanging up his own painting

It's emerged that a 51-year-old technical services team member has been accused of hanging up a painting of his own in at a major German contemporary art gallery.

The Pinakothek der Moderne is one of the largest galleries of modern art in Germany and Europe, featuring the works of famous artists such as Pablo Picasso, Max Ernst, René Magritte, Salvador Dalí and many more.

The incident allegedly occured on 23 February this year but details were only released on Monday.

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Aspiring to be included among these historic artists, the unnamed man hung the 60 by 120 cm painting up in a gallery that he has access to outside of opening hours. The Pinakothek hasn’t revealed how long the painting was on show, though it assures it wasn’t for long.

“The supervisors notice something like this immediately," says press spokeswoman Tine Nehler. The painting has been taken down and, Nehler believes, returned to the man.

While the man has been sacked from his job, he also has to worry about a police investigation. Munich police are investigating him for damage to a property over the two holes he drilled in empty wall.

The man had hoped that putting his painting up in the gallery would help him achieve his artistic dreams. Unless his best hopes included his painting being returned, losing his job and the whole incident being recorded with the press with him remaining anonymous, then perhaps those dreams have been dashed.

Notably, the gallery hasn’t released any information about the imagery of the painting.