I bet someone tries to adapt this into a screenplay.
The Pinakothek der Moderne is an art museum in Munich renowned for having one of the most impressive collections of modern art in the world. It also has works by less-then-modern modern masters like Leonardo Da Vinci and Henri Mattise. A 51-year-old member of the gallery’s technical services team who regards art as his true calling decided to, as we say, “go for it” and secretly hung one of his own works, a 23 by 47 inch painting, in the museum gallery during the early morning hours of February 23, before the museum opened for the public.
He found an empty wall in a hallway, drilled two holes, put up his masterpiece, and waited to be discovered. He was. The stowaway art was quickly spotted by a staff member. To avoid disruption and perhaps fearing the Streisand Effect (I don’t know what it’s called in Germany), they waited until after closing to take the painting down. Then the museum fired the bold artist’s butt, and the rest of him too. He was also banned from the museum.
The museum didn’t reveal his name, and waited almost two months before revealing the incident this week. In that movie that I am sure will get made, some wealthy art patron or celebrity sees the painting, buys it, and the artist becomes an international sensation.
“We did not receive any positive feedback on the addition from visitors to the gallery,” a spokesperson for the museum told the press.
Ouch.
Ethics Alarms 
I could see this plot working as a theatrical piece as well, either on stage or screen as a satire of the art world. If he were still around I’d dream cast Peter Sellers as the artist.
I actually saw something similar playing in the West End on a visit to London sometime in the 1990s. The play is called “Art”, and it’s about the reaction of two friends to a third friend’s very pricey purchase of a blank white canvas from a famous artist. I remember it as being quite funny, and being impressed by the comedic ability of the actor playing the art buyer. Because one rarely thinks of Sean Connery as a comedian. Quite honesly, I went for the chance to see him on stage not knowing anything about the piece.
Yet another topic that makes me think of Grace. She regarded Jackson Pollock and similarly inclined painters as scam artists. The look I got from her when I suggested seeing the movie about him was priceless. She loved Ed Harris, but apparently not enough.
Grace wasn’t far wrong, but it wasn’t/isn’t just the “artists”. Much of the contemporary art market is a hustle… with artists, galleries, critics, etc. playing to status-seekers with more money than taste. Even true fraud is made easier by the ability to produce fakes of modern work, not only because of technical issues like period correct paint, canvas, etc., but because of the basic fact that work by the likes of Pollock, de Kooning, or Rothko require little skill or imagination to emulate. https://nypost.com/2016/01/24/inside-the-80m-scam-that-rocked-the-art-world-and-hits-courts-this-week/
A staffer in the museum in Munich must have been familiar with what should have been on the walls. I’d guess it unlikely a patron noticed anything wrong. It might not be hard to fake a Rothko, but an employee would have questions if a new one suddenly appeared. There continue to be episodes where “legitimate” works get mistaken for trash and almost tossed out by cleaning crews, or incidents where experts praise pieces by small children or even animals, jokingly submitted in competitions.
Several of the comments from readers in various accounts made the predictable joke: that if this was a modern art collection, how would anyone tell that this guy’s work wasn’t as good as any other one on the walls.
I remember going to the Whitney Museum of Modern Art, and made a contest to find the blank/monochrome canvas displayed as “art”. Sure enough, they had a whole room with white walls with only a canvas painted red hanging in it!
I want to highlight that the museum did everything right (other than hiring the wannabe Picasso). This should be the standard response, but it is so uncommon that it deserves to be recognized.