Great Moments in Art Theft History - Part One
Art theft is a looming criminal enterprise and has been so for centuries – particularly with antiquities. Art is indisputably a sacrosanct form of communication and expression to many people and when great works of art are stolen, it is a significant loss on both a financial as well as a cultural and historical level. Art theft is no longer just an elitist crime funded by unscrupulous collectors, but has become a billion dollar industry linked to drugs cartels and illicit arms dealing, but has become one of the largest criminal activities in the world. Although, thieves have often targeted famous paintings, an increasing trend of brazen thefts sees paintings stolen not just for profit but also as a type of trophy robbery to impress others. Stolen art can also be used as a bargaining chip between crime syndicates. In the world of art crime, there are two basic types of thefts. First, there is theft with intent to sell on the open market and typically, these stolen artworks are recovered a decade or so after its disappearance. Secondly, there is theft commissioned by wealthy private individuals who want to keep them in their secret vaults – and these types of thefts are much harder to solve.
In the news as recently as August 2004, a great art heist occurred in the country of Norway when Edvard Munch's famous 1893 work,
The Scream (at left), was stolen by masked and armed robbers from the Munch Museum while terrified tourists watched in broad daylight. Edvard Munch, who was Norway’s best-known artist, is credited as a pioneer in the 20th century Expressionist movement in art, died at the age of 81 in 1944. In case you are not familiar with this famous painting,
The Scream, in which there are four versions of this well-known work, depicts an anguished and ghostly figure who appears to be screaming or shielding his ears from a scream against the background of a red sunset – a symbol of despair and alienation. After World War II, perhaps no other artwork mirrored the alienation and isolation of modern-day life than Munch’s
The Scream.
In this famous crime heist, two masked thieves pulled
The Scream as well as another painting,
Madonna (at left), off the wall as stunned visitors watched. The stolen
Madonna, perhaps the second best known image by Munch, was painted between 1893-1894, and depicts an erotic Madonna with a blood-red halo in a dark, swirling aura. Munch later produced woodcut lithographs with a similar depiction. Although security cameras were in place at the museum, the art thieves wore black hoods like bank robbers – thus disguising them thoroughly from identification. Representatives from the Munch Museum said that both
The Scream and
Madonna paintings were among its most valuable art assets – and selling figures for both paintings at auction range anywhere between $20 -100 million dollars. The getaway car and picture frames were found by Oslo police hours later after the heist. It’s the second time that a version of Munch’s painting had been stolen. Another version of
The Scream was taken from Oslo’s National Gallery in February 1994, but was successfully recovered three months later.
Fortunately, this great art heist turned out to have a happy conclusion. As of August of this year, Oslo Police officials recovered both The Scream and Madonna paintings in better-than-expected condition. The paintings were recovered following the conviction of three suspects in the case in May 2006, an international police hunt and the offer of a nearly $300,000 reward by the City of Oslo, which owns the artworks. Since the 2004 thefts, the Munch Museum has undergone a huge security upgrade.
Thefts of art or artifacts from museums, while not exactly commonplace, are common enough to warrant rather high level security for museum collections including bulletproof glass display cases, fingerprint I.D. access for behind the scene storage rooms, and, of course, on-site security guards. Museums not only keep track of objects that have been stolen from their exhibits and store rooms, they have started to report art thefts to international databases, such as the Art Loss Register - which has offices in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Germany. Databases like the Art Loss Register allow auction houses and museums to explore whether or not an object has been reported as stolen before they send it to auction or attempt to purchase it or accept it for donation.
