An artist who was paid $84,000 for his paintings instead sent a collection of blank canvases to the buyer and titled them ''Take the Money and Run".
Artist Jens Haaning was paid $84,000 by the Kunsten Museum of Modern Art of Denmark for two paintings to be used in an upcoming exhibition, PEOPLE reports, however, he decided to send two blank canvases instead.
CNN states that the museum had commissioned the artist to recreate two of his previous works that involved framing cash to represent the respective salaries of Austrians and Danes in their respective currencies.
The work was intended to be used in an exhibition about the future of labor.
Kunsten, however, was shocked to discover that instead of using the money to commission new artwork, the artist had instead chosen to send the museum two blank canvases.
"I have chosen to make a new work for the exhibition, instead of showing the two 14- and 11-year-old works respectively," Haaning told the museum in an email, CNN reports.
"The work is based on/responds to both your exhibition concept and the works that we had originally planned to show," he wrote.
He titled his new piece "Take the Money and Run".
In an interview with CBS News, Lasse Andersson, the museum's director, said that instead of being angry, he laughed when he saw the two blank canvases.
"The staff was very surprised when they opened the crates. I was abroad when the crates were opened, but suddenly received a lot of mails," Andersson said.
"Jens is known for his conceptual and activistic art with a humoristic touch. And he gave us that - but also a bit of a wake-up call as everyone now wonders where did the money go," he added.
NPR reports that Haaning signed a contract to provide the artwork and will therefore be liable to return the $84,000, which he reportedly plans to do in mid-January when the exhibition ends.
Despite not getting what they asked for, the museum isn't entirely unhappy with the blank canvases.
"It wasn't what we had agreed on in the contract," Andersson said, "but we got new and interesting art."
