In a modern art mishap, a newly hired elevator mechanic at a Dutch museum threw away a pair of empty beer cans that were actually part of an art piece on exhibit in the museum.

French artist Alexandre Lavet’s 2016 piece “All the good times we spent together” consists of a couple of empty cans painstakingly made to look like Jupiler beer cans using acrylic paint. Jupiler is a Belgian beer brewed by Anheuser-Busch InBev.

The Lisse Art Museum in Lisse, The Netherlands, decided to put the cans on top of a glass elevator to make it seem as if they were left behind from construction work.

“The theme of our art collection is food and consumption. We let you look at everyday things in a special way through art. By presenting the works of art differently, that effect is increased. You are surprised time and time again,” museum director Sietske van Zanten said in a release.

On Oct. 1, a new mechanic, replacing an employee who was more familiar with the museum’s style, saw the piece and threw it away, thinking it was trash.

Museum curator Elisah van den Bergh noticed the cans missing and retrieved them in a garbage bag, undamaged and needing some light cleaning. The piece will now be displayed “in the spotlight” on a pedestal at the entrance, Ms. van den Bergh said, before being moved again.

“[The] cans are unlikely to stay on their traditional plinth for long. We need to think hard about a careful place to put them next,” museum spokesperson Froukje Budding told French news agency Agence France-Presse.

Museum officials said they do not hold the incident against the mechanic, and instead see the incident as indicative of the quality of the art.

“He did his job to the best of his ability” Ms. van Zanten said of the mechanic, and added that “on a positive note, it is a compliment to artist Alexandre Lavet,” as translated from Dutch.

• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.