“The Scream” (1893) and “Madonna”(1893-94) by Edvard Munch will go back on display at the Munch Museum in Oslo. Both paintings were stolen and unfortunately damaged in a 2004 heist.
Repairs to the paintings, that were damaged as they were torn from the walls of the museum, are almost complete.
Heistmen gaffled the paintings during the day, during museum hours in a daring if not artistic heist (no pun intended).
The two espressionist masterworks, valued at 110 million dollars at the time of the heist, were later recovered in 2006. Two men involved in the heist are behind bars.
Security is now increased at the Munch Museum.
This heist was considered wack by most pros since the masterpieces were damaged. It doesn’t matter if you are heisting fly girls or fly paintings, you need to respect your target and The Game.
Street artist Banksy’s screen print of supermodel Kate Moss sold for US$191,000 at a recent “street art” auction in London. They sold for more than 5 times the expected.
Some people are suprised by the high prices (last week’s charity Red Auction at Sotheby’s in New York one was sold for more than $1.8m (£921,000). But many who grew up with graffitti, hip-hop, and skate culture are now older and have dough.
The Kate Moss piece, inspired by Andy Warhol’s iconic portrait of Marilyn Monroe, was one of 75 pieces of “urban art” on sale.
Two masterpieces that were peeled from the E.G. Buehrle art museum last week were found in good condition Monday in an unlocked car parked outside a nearby psychiatric hospital.
The two other paintings are still Swayze.
The recovered paintings were Claude Monet’s “Poppies near Vetheuil” (1879) and Vincent van Gogh’s “Chestnut in Bloom” (1890) were found by a parking lot attendant who contacted police about 4 p.m. Monday.
The two paintings, which have a combined value of about $64 million, were among four stolen on Feb. 10 by three masked men in a dope daylight robbery at a private villa housing the E.G. Buehrle Collection. It was Switzerland’s largest-ever art robbery.
The two paintings were found Monday in a white Opel Omega with stolen license plates. They were found less than a mile from the museum.
The museum had offered a $91,000 reward for information leading to the recovery of the four paintings, but neither police nor museum officials would say Tuesday if the parking lot attendant, who was not identified, would collect part of it. Or if he was part of the heist, on a flip the script move.
Authorities are continuing to search for the two other stolen paintings, “Count Lepic and his Daughters” (1871) by Edgar Degas and “Boy in a Red Jacket” (1888) by Paul Cezanne, which is the freshest piece in the museum.
Sounds like someone in the crew caught some nerves. Remember back in third grade when you heisted the test answers from the teacher? Someone in the crew always wanted to turn themself in when the heat came down.
Four oil paintings worth more than $163.5 Million (£80m) by Monet, Degas, van Gogh and Cezanne were taken in the weekend robbery from the E.G. Buehrle museum.
The heisted pieces were Claude Monet’s “Poppy field at Vetheuil” (1880), Edgar Degas’ “Ludovic Lepic and his Daughter”(1871), Vincent van Gogh’s “Blooming Chestnut Branches” (1890), and Paul Cezanne’s “Boy in the Red Waistcoat” (1890).
Three G’s wearing ski masks and dark clothing ran up in the museum half-an-hour before closing on Sunday. This was largest art robbery in Switzerland’s history and one of the biggest ever in Europe.
While one of the men used a pistol to force museum personnel to the floor, the other two heistmen went into the exhibition hall and collected the four masterpieces. They were said to have spoken German with a Slavic accent (but of course they might have been disguising their voices).
The FBI estimates the market for stolen art at $6 billion(£3bn) annually (making it a very robust industry) and Interpol has about 30,000 pieces of stolen art in its database.
Three other versions of the stolen Cezanne painting — perhaps the most famous of those seized — exist in the National Gallery in Washington, the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia. Its value alone is thought to be $90 million.
Last week, two Pablo Picasso paintings were stolen from a Swiss exhibition near Zurich.
The two oil paintings, Tete de cheval (Head of horse) and Verre et pichet (Glass and pitcher), were on loan from the Sprengel Museum in Hannover, Germany.
Again, authorities are talking about “entirely new dimension in criminal culture” which I talked about in Criminality in The Luxury Sector.
Swiss Police called it a “spectacular art robbery.” This is one of the few times I agree with police.
The three G’s are at large and presumibly living large.
Two dope pieces of artwork by Pablo Picasso and Brazil’s Candido Portinari were heisted Thursday from the Sao Paulo Art Museum (MASP) where they were on exhibition.
The (what seems to be very professional) thieves stole Picasso’s “Portrait of Suzanne Bloch,” painted in 1904, comes from Picasso’s blue period and has to be one of the most valuable pieces in the museum.
“O Lavrador de Cafe,” by Portinari was also heisted which depicts a coffee picker, was painted in 1939 and is one of the most renowned works by one of Brazil’s most famous painters. Portinari, is known for his “neo-realism” painting steez.
According to police, it took only three minutes for thieves to steal the oil-on-canvas paintings, which were exhibited in two different locations at the museum. The crime took place from 5:09 a.m. to 5:12 a.m. local time, although three security guards were at the spot at that time. Security cameras recorded the theft which I am sure are of poor quality.
The thieves used a hydraulic car jack to pry their way past the pull-down metal gate that protects the museum’s front entrance. Then, they smashed through two glass doors, probably using a crowbar, to get to the paintings on the second floor.
International Heistmen have been targeting Brazil’s museums lately. In February, artwork by Picasso, Henri Matisse, Salvador Dali and Claude Monet were taken from Chacara do Ceu Museum in Riode Janeiro. I have mentioned this trend before in Criminality in The Luxury Sector.
These paintings are valued at an estimated $100 million.
This had to be a “heist to order” job for a art collector because the paintings were in different rooms and thieves have tried to steal them before.
No one was hurt and it appears to be a very professional job. The quickness that the men did the job is remarkable. All in all a great result.
