Two Belgian TikTok creators managed to outsmart security at the world-famous Louvre Museum in Paris, successfully hanging their own artwork on the wall of the room that houses Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa. The stunt was carried out purely as a prank by the social media personalities known as Neal and Senne, who documented their exploit on both Instagram and TikTok.
The duo employed a clever strategy to bypass the museum's security measures. They constructed a dismantleable frame made entirely of Lego blocks and rolled up their canvas painting to pass through the various security checkpoints undetected. This ingenious approach allowed them to smuggle the materials needed for their unauthorized art installation into one of the world's most heavily guarded cultural spaces.
While the pair successfully managed to hang their artwork somewhere within the Mona Lisa room, they were unable to achieve their original ambitious goal of placing it directly next to the famous Renaissance masterpiece. The heavy security presence and heightened vigilance of museum guards in the immediate vicinity of the Mona Lisa prevented them from getting that close to the iconic painting.
This latest stunt is not the first time Neal and Senne have made headlines with their audacious pranks. According to reports, the two young Belgians previously gained notoriety for sneaking into Munich's stadium during a Champions League final match after spending 27 hours hiding in the facility's restrooms. They also successfully managed to hang one of their artworks in the Museum of Fine Arts in Ghent, Belgium, demonstrating a pattern of infiltrating prestigious cultural institutions.
The incident highlights ongoing security challenges faced by major museums worldwide, particularly those housing priceless and irreplaceable artworks. The Louvre, which attracts millions of visitors annually and houses some of the world's most valuable art collections, maintains extensive security protocols to protect its treasures from theft, vandalism, and unauthorized activities.
The temporary addition to the Louvre's collection was eventually discovered and removed by museum staff. While the prank was carried out without malicious intent and no damage was reported to any existing artworks, the incident raises questions about security vulnerabilities even in the most prestigious and well-protected cultural institutions in the world.
