Artist Ordered to Repay Museum After Submitting Blank Canvases

Danish conceptual artist Jens Haaning made headlines in 2021 when he received 532,000 kroner, equivalent to approximately $75,000, from a museum for his artwork, but turned in two empty frames titled "Take the Money and Run."

Now a Copenhagen court has ruled he must repay the museum that commissioned the piece, according to multiple reports Monday.

"I am shocked, but at the same time, it is exactly what I have imagined," Haaning told the Danish broadcaster DR, according to a translation by NPR.

The artist added he could not afford to reimburse the museum.

"It has been good for my work, but it also puts me in an unmanageable situation where I don't really know what to do," he reportedly said.

In 2021, the Kunsten Museum of Modern Art in Aalborg, Denmark, paid Haaning around $75,000 to recreate two of his renowned artworks, "An Average Danish Annual Income" and "An Average Austrian Annual Income."

These pieces featured krone and euro banknotes attached to canvas, representing the average annual income of individuals in these countries.

Instead, he submitted two empty frames, which the museum displayed during the same year.

The Kunsten Museum subsequently requested the artist to reimburse the amount they had paid. Haaning declined, leading the museum to file a lawsuit against him.

"Two days before the exhibition opened, Haaning sent us an email saying he had sent us a new work," Lasse Andersson, the museum's director of the Kunsten museum, told the Guardian at the time.

"We are not a wealthy museum," he said. "The money came from modest reserves earmarked for the upkeep of the building. “We have to think carefully about how we spend our funds, and we don't spend more than we can afford."

In 2021, Haaning explained to local media that "Take the Money and Run" was motivated by what he perceived as inadequate compensation. He mentioned recreating the artworks as originally intended would have necessitated him to personally cover approximately 3,300 euros, equivalent to around $3,500 today.

"I encourage other people who have working conditions as miserable as mine to do the same," he said. "If they're sitting in some s****y job and not getting paid and are actually being asked to pay money to go to work, then grab what you can and beat it."

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