As art prices soared in the 1980s and 1990s, art collections became increasingly profitable and art crime began to flourish during this period. Among the many world famous paintings, what are the most favored artistic masterpieces by museum thieves?
The World's Most Expensive Smile Mona Lisa
Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci 1503-1517
The Mona Lisa, painted by Leonardo da Vinci, is the most iconic portrait of Leonardo da Vinci, now in the Louvre Museum in France.
The painting is considered the most expensive painting in the world, with an official valuation of $3.45 billion proposed by Italy and France in 1920, equivalent to $210 billion today. Such a precious Mona Lisa has been stolen once in history.
In 1913, an Italian named Perugia was stolen by a "patriotic" thief on the grounds that Leonardo da Vinci was Italian and that he believed the painting should belong to Italy. After hiding at home for 2 years, he tried to sell it to a Florentine art dealer. When the merchant inspected the goods, he was surprised to find that this was the authentic Mona Lisa that had disappeared from the Louvre, and after careful consideration, he reported it to the police, so he was arrested.
After the theft of the Mona Lisa, she returned to France after two years, and became famous and became one of the "three treasures of the Louvre Town Museum". France called the return of the Mona Lisa a "rebirth of the nation", for which the price of goods in the country was reduced by 40% to celebrate, and the status of the Mona Lisa as a national treasure was established.
The ill-fated Poppy
Van Gogh's Poppy, 1887
The Poppy is an oil painting by Van Gogh completed in 1887 and is worth $50 million to $55 million. The painting was stolen from the Mohammed Ahmad Al Khalil Museum in Cairo in 2010 and has not been recovered.
"Poppy" was stolen on the day it was stolen and there was a news joke. Just hours after the painting was stolen, Sharan, an official at Egypt's Ministry of Culture, held a press conference to say the painting had been lost and recovered, and police arrested a man and a woman and two Italians at the airport. However, what is even more unexpected is that just when people are still lamenting the efficiency of the Egyptian police, the country's minister of culture, Hosni, held a press conference to announce that the previous ministry of culture official Sharan's information was wrong, and "Poppy" has not been recovered. In October of the same year, 11 people, including The Acting Minister of Culture of Egypt, were convicted of dereliction of duty and released after paying a fine.
This is not the first time Poppy has been stolen, as it was stolen once on 4 June 1977 before being recovered in Kuwait 10 years later.
Munch in pain, the scream that was stolen one after another
The Scream is one of the masterpieces of the Norwegian Expressionist painter Edward Munch. The main body of the painting is a blood-red accent, a red background from the 1883 eruption of The Krakatoa Volcano in Indonesia, which stained the sky red with ash.
There are 5 editions of The Scream, which are housed in the Munch Museum and the Norwegian National Gallery. "Scream" has always been the target of thieves, but perhaps because the painting implies "resentment", the theft process of "Scream" is also more "painful".
1893 Tempera Edition norwegian National Gallery
In 1994, two thieves infiltrated the Norwegian National Gallery and stole the 1893 edition of Scream.
On 12 February 1994, the day of the opening of the Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, the Norwegian National Gallery moved Scream to another gallery for display. However, the Norwegian side may be too eager to show the famous paintings to the world, and for a moment forget to strengthen its security measures.
On this day, 4 robbers smashed the glass of the Norwegian National Gallery with hammers and went straight to "Scream". The museum's sirens rang at once, but this was not taken seriously by the museum guards. The robbers cut the metal wire that hung "Scream" and transported the famous painting away. Rampant robbers even left a note that read, "Thanks for the humble security work." The whole theft process lasted only 60 seconds.
The robbers then demanded a $1 million ransom from the museum, but Norwegian police rejected the request. With the help of British police and the Getty Museum, the stolen painting was recovered on May 7.
1910 edition of munch museum
In 2004, masked gunmen stole the 1910 version of Scream from the Munch Museum.
Ten years later, on 22 August 2004, a group of masked gunmen entered the Munch Museum in Oslo and stole two famous paintings, "The Cry" and "Our Lady", in full view of everyone. Fortunately, when the robbers fled the museum with the two pieces, they were photographed by a bystander.
On 8 April 2005, Norwegian police arrested a suspect with close ties, but failed to find two stolen works of art, and there were even reports that thieves had burned the two art treasures in order to destroy the evidence. The Oslo city government offered a reward of 2 million crowns to find out the whereabouts of the two paintings. On August 31, 2006, Norwegian police claimed that they had recovered two stolen paintings, but did not disclose details about the recovery of the two paintings.
Portrait of Jacob III, which was stolen many times due to its small size
Portrait of Jacob III by Rembrandt, 1632
Rembrandt was one of the greatest Dutch painters of the 17th century. During his lifetime, he left behind more than 600 oil paintings, more than 300 etchings and more than 2,000 drawings, as well as more than 100 self-portraits.
Portrait of Jacob III is smaller than most of Rembrandt's other works, at 29.9 ×24.9cm. The painting has been stolen four times since 1966, and its size is one of the important factors that led to its theft multiple times.
The first theft of the work occurred between 14 August 1981 and 3 September 1981 at Dulwich Gallery, where police arrested four men in a taxi.
The second theft of the work occurred two years later, when a burglar smashed a skylight and then walked through it into an art gallery, using a crowbar to remove the painting from the wall. The police arrived within three minutes, but there was no time to arrest the thief. The painting was missing for three years and was found on 8 October 1986 in a luggage rack at a British Garrison train station.
Two other times, once found under a cemetery in Streepham and once behind a bicycle. It ranks first in the world for stolen famous paintings, and is stolen shortly after each discovery, so it has the nickname "Take-out Rembrandt".
The Still Unknown "Storm on the Sea of Galilee"
Rembrandt's Storm on the Sea of Galilee, 1633
The Storm on the Sea of Galilee is an oil painting by the Dutch painter Rembrandt in 1633 and his only seafaring landscape painting depicting Jesus calming the storm on the Sea of Galilee.
On March 18, 1990, two thieves in police uniforms persuaded security guards at the Isabel Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston to open the door and steal 13 precious works of art from Rembrandt, Vermeer and other artists, including "The Storm on the Sea of Galilee.",
The empty picture frame originally contained Rembrandt's "Storm on the Sea of Galilee" and "Storm on the Sea of Galilee"
To this day, the statute of limitations has passed, the paintings are still missing, and the Gardner Museum has kept the frames of Rembrandt's lost works in their original positions, carrying the mourning of the art world in a gesture to be filled.
The most valuable concert currently stolen
Vermeer's Concerts of 1664
Vermeer's Concert was stolen at the same time as The Storm on the Sea of Galilee, and to this day the painting has not been found. The Concert is considered the most valuable work stolen so far, with an estimated value of more than $200 million.
Because the museum interior is equipped with a sensor system, the thieves' methods of theft are recorded. They cut rembrandt's two paintings directly from the frame and removed the Concert from the frame, taking a total of eighty-one minutes.
Today, the theft of exhibits valued at more than $500 million is not only the nation's largest theft of art, but has remained unsolved for twenty-seven years. Landing on the official website of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum of Art, the content of this shocking theft still occupies a prominent position on the front page, providing any clues that will help solve the case, and the bounty that can help the thirteen exhibits to be returned to Zhao has been raised to 10 million US dollars. I don't know when this masterpiece will be able to see the light of day.
"The Pigeon and the Pea" rumored to have been thrown into the trash can
Picasso's Pigeon and Pea , 1911
Dove and Pea is a painting by Pablo Picasso completed in 1911 and one of five works stolen from the Musée Contemporaneous de Moderne in Paris on 20 May 2010.
The theft of May 20, 2015 is a "case of the century," with a loss of $124 million. However, the theft case is not as complicated as imagined. At that time, the security system of the venue had been malfunctioning and deactivating for two months, and the three security guards in the stadium were dozing off, and the thieves only broke the window and skillfully pried off the door lock.
Although the thief and the messenger were caught the following year, no works were found. Rumor has it that the work has been thrown into the trash and its whereabouts are unknown.
Paintings included in the "Top Ten Unresolved Art Crimes List"
Caravaggio, 1609, "The Birth of St. Francis and St. Lawrence"
St. Francis and the Birth of St. Lawrence is a painting by Caravaggio created in 1609. On October 18, 1969, caravaggio's painting was cut from the frame and stolen. The painting is now on the FBI's "Top 10 Unresolved Art Crimes List."
Over the years, there have been many rumors about the theft of this painting, most of which involve the mafia. One informant, Gaspare Spatuzzo, reported in 2009 that the painting was mostly eaten by rats and pigs because it was hidden in a barn and subsequently burned. The truth is vague, but what we do know is that no one has seen the portrait for more than 40 years.
It is estimated that the painting, worth about $20 million, may have been destroyed or sold. But whether it was destroyed or not, art officials said they didn't know, but they did believe the painting never left Italy.
Some of the world's masterpieces we are familiar with, some of which are still missing. In any case, their place in art history will always be indelible, and we look forward to their early return.