"Scream" stolen (1 Viewer)

Zlatan

Senior Member
Jun 9, 2003
23,049
#1
Armed robbers have stolen the iconic Edvard Munch painting, The Scream, from the Munch Museum in Norway.
Two masked thieves pulled the work and another painting, Madonna, off the wall as stunned visitors watched.

One robber threatened staff with a gun before the pair escaped in a waiting car, a museum officer told the BBC.

The painting was stolen a decade ago and was missing for three months before being recovered. Three Norwegians were arrested in connection with that theft.

Jorunn Christofferson, a press officer at the Munch Museum, told the BBC the museum was full of people when the robbers took the two paintings - frames and all - off the walls of the gallery.

Kjell Pedersen of the Oslo police told the Norwegian daily Aftenposten that police had "mobilised all available resources on the ground and in the air".

All you had to do is pull on the painting hard for the cord to break loose - which is what I saw one of the thieves doing

Francois Castang, witness
Nobody was hurt and no shots were fired, Ms Christofferson said.

She said the museum had closed-circuit television that would have captured the event on video, but that the thieves "were wearing black hoods, like bank robbers".

The Scream and The Madonna are among the two most valuable paintings in the museum collection, she said.

No protection

A French radio producer who was in the museum at the time of the theft said security was not very tight.

"What's strange is that in this museum, there weren't any means of protection for the paintings, no alarm bell," Francois Castang told France Inter radio, the Associated Press reported.

"The paintings were simply attached by wire to the walls," he said. "All you had to do is pull on the painting hard for the cord to break loose - which is what I saw one of the thieves doing."

Ms Christofferson said the guards were more concerned with protecting visitors than the paintings.

"We have guards but when they threaten the guards with a gun there is not much to be done," she told the BBC.

"They were more concerned with the security of the visitors."

Demands


The Scream was stolen before, in 1994 as the Winter Olympic Games began in Lillehammer, Norway.

The Norwegian government received a demand for a ransom of $1m, but never got proof that those demanding the money had the painting.

An anti-abortion group claimed it could get the painting returned if an anti-abortion film was broadcast on television.

Police dismissed that claim.

The painting was recovered undamaged in a hotel about 65km (40 miles) south of Oslo in May 1994.


Munch, Norway's best-known artist, painted his most famous work in 1893.

He died in 1944, aged 81.
 

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Zlatan

Senior Member
Jun 9, 2003
23,049
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread Starter #5
    How I see it, all they can do is try to ask for a ransom. the painting is too well known and too high-profile to be sold easily, and even if they do manage to sell it, there's no way they could keep it a secret.
     

    Bjerknes

    "Top Economist"
    Mar 16, 2004
    111,310
    #6
    ++ [ originally posted by Zlatan ] ++
    How I see it, all they can do is try to ask for a ransom. the painting is too well known and too high-profile to be sold easily, and even if they do manage to sell it, there's no way they could keep it a secret.
    Obviously :D
     

    3pac

    Alex Del Mexico
    May 7, 2004
    7,206
    #10
    ++ [ originally posted by Martin ] ++
    Duh, they're obviously just art lovers. ;)

    Wasn't me and Torks btw. :angel:
    slightly off topic but there is no "painting" thread i believe. i only jsut realised how ugly the mona lisa actually is. if it was priceless i would never want it in my house.
     

    Torkel

    f(s+1)=3((s +1)-1=3s
    Jul 12, 2002
    3,537
    #11
    Some guy on the radio said that the painting could have been stolen by some crazy guy who wanted to keep it for himself. The only other motive they could think of was of course ransom, wich is the most likely.
    ++ [ originally posted by Martin ] ++
    Wasn't me and Torks btw. :angel:
    That's what they all' think. ;)
     

    Erkka

    Senior Member
    Mar 31, 2004
    3,863
    #12
    oh, some "experts" here say that it could have been stolen by criminals who want to reduce their coming jail time by blackmailing?!
     

    Roverbhoy

    Senior Member
    Jul 31, 2002
    1,840
    #14
    ++ [ originally posted by P.E.T.O ] ++
    oh, some "experts" here say that it could have been stolen by criminals who want to reduce their coming jail time by blackmailing?!

    Yeah I heard this too...seems that they may use it in plea bargaining against drug convictions...it may have been done before with other works off stolen art, and the story is only just leaking out:eek:
     

    _Emerson

    Senior Member
    Aug 13, 2004
    1,109
    #15
    It shouldnt be possible to steel expensive art, its a joke, how naive can those people bee when they dont physically secure the pictures better.
     

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