NETHERLANDS: THIEVES HAVE STOLEN TWO VINCENT VAN GOGH PAINTINGS FROM AMSTERDAM'S VAN GOGH MUSEUM
Record ID:
646909
NETHERLANDS: THIEVES HAVE STOLEN TWO VINCENT VAN GOGH PAINTINGS FROM AMSTERDAM'S VAN GOGH MUSEUM
- Title: NETHERLANDS: THIEVES HAVE STOLEN TWO VINCENT VAN GOGH PAINTINGS FROM AMSTERDAM'S VAN GOGH MUSEUM
- Date: 8th December 2002
- Summary: (U4) AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS (DECEMBER 7, 2002) (REUTERS) 1. LAS /SLV EXTERIOR VIEWS OF VAN GOGH MUSEUM; POLICE AND POLICE DOGS ENTERING MUSEUM (3 SHOTS) 0.29 2. (SOUNDBITE)(English) POLICE SPOKESPERSON, ELLY FLORAX, SAYING "At this moment my colleagues, the police, are inside looking for some tracks or something, what happened inside. But we have seen is a ladder on the back side of the Van Gogh Museum and we found a rope. We are still looking if those things have something to do with the robbery. We presume it is. And what we think is that the thieves came in the building from the roof. So they were on the roof and then came into the Van Gogh Museum." 0.57 3. SCU TWO VIEWS OF A PICTURE OF "CONGREGATION LEAVING THE REFORMED CHURCH IN NUENEN" 0.14 4. SCU PAN OF PICTURE OF "VIEW OF THE SEA AT SCHEVENINGEN" 1.34 5. SLV PAN EXTERIOR VAN GOGH MUSEUM; REPORTERS GATHERED OUTSIDE MUSEUM; MUSEUM FROM OPPOSITE SIDE OF THE STREET (4 SHOTS) 2.07 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 23rd December 2002 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS
- Country: Netherlands
- Reuters ID: LVA1T6O627YZ0KPOL3K2W9QOTJ0W
- Story Text: Daring thieves have stolen two Vincent Van Gogh
paintings from Amsterdam's Van Gogh Museum.
The works of art were stolen early on Saturday
(December 7, 2002) after thieves gained access through the
roof of the building.
The thieves scrambled on to the roof of the museum using a
ladder and then descended into the building. The museum's
alarm went off, but by the time police arrived the culprits
had disappeared, a police spokesman said.
The two paintings by the 19th century Dutch master were
identified as "Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church in
Nuenen" and "View of the Sea at Scheveningen".
"Just before eight (a.m.) they disappeared. There is still
a police investigation going on," a museum spokeswoman said.
The spokeswoman said she could not put a value on the
paintings. In 1998, a Van Gogh self portrait sold at auction
in New York for 71 million U.S. dollars.
Van Gogh, famous for his striking use of colour and
emphatic brush strokes, is considered the greatest Dutch
artist after Rembrandt. He worked with considerable intensity
and painted some of his greatest works while living in the
south of France.
He led a troubled life and suffered from a psychotic
episode in the late 1880s when he cut off a piece of his left
ear. He died in 1890 after shooting himself in the chest.
The stolen paintings date from the early period of his
career as an artist.
"Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church in Nuenen", an
oil painting on a small canvas, was painted in early 1884 for
Van Gogh's mother and father.
The church in the picture is the one where his father was
a pastor. The painting features a congregation outside a
church in autumn.
"View of the Sea at Scheveningen", was painted in 1882. A
view of the North Sea at a beach resort near The Hague set
against a dark thundery sky, it was painted in thick gobs of
colour with rough brushstrokes.
The Van Gogh raid was the second major theft in the
Netherlands this week.
On Monday (December 2), thieves stole diamond jewellery
worth millions of euros from a Dutch museum exhibiting tiaras
and necklaces borrowed from European kings and queens.
The Van Gogh Museum houses more than 200 paintings and 600
drawings by the artist. Around 1.5 million people have visited
the museum so far this year.
- Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None