Two major Van Gogh works stolen in 2002 recovered - museum

Record ID: 83556

  • Title: Two major Van Gogh works stolen in 2002 recovered - museum
  • Date: 30th September 2016
  • Summary: AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS (FILE - DECEMBER 7, 2002) (REUTERS) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) VARIOUS EXTERIORS OF VAN GOGH MUSEUM POLICE AND POLICE DOG ENTERING MUSEUM (SOUNDBITE) (English) POLICE SPOKESPERSON, ELLY FLORAX, SAYING: "At this moment my colleagues, the police, is inside looking for some tracks or something, what happened inside. What 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." VARIOUS OF VAN GOGH'S "CONGREGATION LEAVING THE REFORMED CHURCH IN NUENEN" PAINTING SEEN IN BOOK VARIOUS OF VAN GOGH'S "VIEW OF THE SEA AT SCHEVENINGEN" PAINTING SEEN IN BOOK EXTERIOR OF VAN GOGH MUSEUM / PEOPLE GATHERED OUTSIDE VARIOUS OF VISITORS AND MUSEUM GUARDS OUTSIDE POLICE CAR PARKED ACROSS STREET FROM MUSEUM
  • Embargoed: 15th October 2016 09:59
  • Keywords: Van Gogh paintings museum Amsterdam Netherlands robbery
  • Location: AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS
  • City: AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS
  • Country: Netherlands
  • Topics: Arts/Culture/Entertainment
  • Reuters ID: LVA00151RCOXZ
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text:EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: THIS EDIT CONTAINS MATERIAL ORIGINALLY 4:3
    Italian police have recovered two paintings by the Dutch artist Vincent Van Gogh in Naples, the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam said on Friday (September 30).
    It said the paintings, stolen from the museum in 2002, had been removed from their frames but appeared largely undamaged. It was not immediately clear when they would be returned to the museum.
    The works, "Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church in Nuenen" and "View of the Sea at Scheveningen", are both from relatively early in Van Gogh's career.
    File footage showed police entering the museum to investigate the robbery as visitors and reporters gathered on the scene.
    According to a police spokesman at the time 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.
    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.
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