Almost a month on from a high-profile jewellery heist that shocked the world, the Louvre has once again seen its security system bypassed.
This time, two Belgian TikTokers managed to slip past the Paris museum's security and hung their own artwork near the Mona Lisa.
Flemish friends Neal Remmerie and Senne Haverbeke had already made a name for themselves earlier this year, when they snuck into Munich’s Allianz Arena to watch the Champions League final for free.
The pair, who have over 48,000 followers on TikTok, have made a name for themselves by documenting their successful attempts at sneaking into high-profile events, such as Rock Werchter and the Venice Film Festival.
To get the painting - a self-portrait - past the checks at the Louvre entrance, the canvas was rolled up and a Lego frame was reconstructed by Remmerie and Haverbeke once they entered the museum. In order to avoid raising suspicion, the Lego pieces were carried through in a shopping bag.
They were then able to hang their picture up in the Salle des États, which is home to Leonardo Da Vinci's Mona Lisa and Paolo Veronese's The Wedding at Cana, just before the museum's closing time. The two influencers were then ostensibly able to leave the museum without trouble. They later posted a video to their social media accounts revealing how the pulled off the operation.
"Neal has some artistic talent, so he painted a canvas depicting both of us," Haverbeke explains in the video. "We arrived an hour before closing time, but visitors had to leave the room half an hour later. We hung the canvas in a hurry."
The painting hung by the TikTokkers inside the Louvre. Instagram/ @neal_senne
The security presence in the Salle des États meant that they were unable to put up their artwork directly next to the Mona Lisa. “We knew it was risky. Once we hung up the painting, we left immediately. We didn't want to provoke security or wait for their reaction.”
"The following day, we received a comment informing us that the painting was still there", Senne told French TV channel BFMTV. "We did not receive any further information, so we left as quickly as possible".
The Louvre management told BFMTV that none of the individual items brought into the museum by the pair was banned, meaning security would not have been able to deny them access in any case.
"They assembled the frame and added the picture after passing through security," said a spokesperson. "They attempted to affix it near the Mona Lisa, but realising that security made this impossible, they put it up in the vestibule within seconds on a blank wall space."
According to the museum, which is considering taking legal action, the picture was only up on the wall for less than three minutes before it was removed.
The world's most-visited museum had established emergency security measures in the wake of a major heist in October, during which eight 19th-century crown jewels, worth an estimated €88 million, were taken in broad daylight. While the jewels are yet to be found, several suspects have been arrested in connection to the robbery.
