Painting by Vincent van Gogh worth $6.6 million stolen from Dutch Museum

A painting by Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh was reportedly stolen on March 29 from Singer Laren Museum, near Amsterdam which was closed to the public due to coronavirus pandemic. According to international media reports, the 1884 painting, titled the ‘Parsonage Garden at Neunen in Spring’, was taken during a pre-dawn break-in as the thieves smashed through a glass door and then took the painting. The art piece was reportedly valued at up to $6.6 million. 

While speaking at a press conference, Jan Rudolph de Lorm, who is the museum’s director, said that he was ‘shocked’ and ‘annoyed’. The theft also took place on the 167th birthday of the artist. Jan added that the painting was a loan from its owner, the Groninger Museum on the north of the Netherlands. The painting was also from Van Gogh’s early time period before the prolific artist embarked on his trademark post-impressionist such as ‘Sunflowers’ and his self-portraits. 

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The Dutch art detective Arthur Brand reportedly said that this was the third time that Van Gogh’s work was targeted in the Netherlands since the 1990s. While speaking to an international media outlet, Brand warned that the ‘hunt is on’. According to him, the robbery looks like the work of a ‘copycat’. 

Furthermore, he noted that the thieves only went for a Van Gogh, while there were other artworks too. As per reports, the museum had almost 3,000 pieces, which included works by Dutch abstract master Piet Mondrian and Dutch-Indonesian painter Jan Toorop and also a casting of ‘The Thinker’ by Auguste Rodin. 

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Previous robberies 

Two Van Gogh’s artwork went back on display at Amsterdam’s Van Gogh Museum last year after they were reportedly stolen from the museum in 2002. According to reports, the paintings ‘View of the Sea at Scheveningen’ and the ‘Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church at Nuenen’ were also recovered by Italia investigators in September 2016 after raiding a home belonging to an infamous mafia drug baron near Naples. Moreover, previously, three Van Goghs were also stolen from the Noordbrabants Museum in 1990, however, they were later recovered when a Dutch criminal made a deal with prosecutors. 

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