Artist Delivers Blank Canvases Titled 'Take the Money and Run' After Receiving $84k Museum Grant

A museum says they gave an artist $84,000 in cash to use in artwork. He delivered blank canvases and titled them "Take the Money and Run."

This image is a screenshot of a public X (formerly Twitter) post discussing a viral real-world art incident. The text at the top explains that a museum provided an artist with $84,000 in cash to be used in creating artwork, but the artist instead delivered two blank framed canvases titled "Take the Money and Run". A photo of the two blank canvases on display is shown below the text. Beneath the photo, a comment from X user @xrayspexray states that the piece is both a legitimate, high-quality work of contemporary art and the funniest action any artist has ever taken. The humor derives from the artist's literal interpretation of the phrase "take the money and run", turning the act of accepting the grant without producing traditional artwork into the art piece itself, blending clever trolling with commentary on the nature of modern art.

This post references a real 2021 news event involving Danish artist Jens Haaning, who was commissioned by Denmark's Kunsten Museum of Modern Art to create two artworks using the equivalent of approximately $84,000 in cash as part of an exhibition about work and wages. Instead of creating the expected pieces, Haaning delivered two blank canvases titled "Take the Money and Run", prompting a legal dispute with the museum. The screenshot of X user @xrayspexray's post commenting on this incident circulated widely as a meme across social media platforms, including the X account @meme.jpg as cited in the source metadata.