Chimp makes a monkey out of art expert

By Aussiegirl


Ernst Wilhelm Nay? Or Banghi the chimp. We report, you decide.

Of course, in and of itself, it's not that difficult to make a monkey out of a modern art expert, they usually do a pretty good imitation on their best days, but it's always satisfying when it happens in a really public and totally humiliating way. We love stories like this.

Chimp's painting fools experts - NEWS.com.au

A GERMAN art expert was fooled into believing a painting done by a chimpanzee was the work of a master.

The director of the State Art Museum of Moritzburg in Saxony-Anhalt, Katja Schneider, suggested the painting was by the Guggenheim Prize-winning artist Ernst Wilhelm Nay.
"It looks like an Ernst Wilhelm Nay. He was famous for using such blotches of colour," Dr Schneider confidently asserted.

The canvas was actually the work of Banghi, a 31-year-old female chimp at the local zoo.

While Banghi likes to paint, she is not able to build up much of a body of work as her mate Satscho generally destroys her paintings before they can get to the gallery.

But this one survived long enough to give Dr Schneider a red face.

"I did think it looked a bit rushed," she told Bild newspaper.