The Thief Who Stole a Prized Van Gogh From a Dutch Museum Used a Sledgehammer to Break In. See Footage of the Brazen Heist Here

Recently released security footage reveals how a thief was able to steal
a Vincent van Gogh painting from the Singer Laren Museum in the
Netherlands.

The robber, who arrived to the museum on a motorcycle, broke in
by smashing reinforced glass doors with a
sledgehammer. Leaving the scene, the thief took Van
Gogh’s The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in
Spring (1884), carrying the painting under his right
arm.

Video of the daring theft, which took place around 3:15 a.m. on
March 30, first aired on the Dutch crime show Opsporing Verzocht.

“It looks like they very deliberately targeted this one Van Gogh
painting,” police spokesperson Maren Wonder said on the show.
She has called on visitors to the museum in the days before its
March 14 closure to come forward with any possible information, and
share any photos or videos they took on the premises.

“People can help if they now realize that another visitor was
behaving suspiciously.”

The police have reportedly received 56 tips from the public
about the theft, but there have been no arrests. It is unclear
whether the robber was acting alone, but authorities are seeking
information about a white van that was caught on security cameras
driving past the museum.

The released footage of the break-in only shows part of the
burglary.

“The burglar broke through a number of doors and several layers
of security,” the museum’s managing director, Evert van Os, said in
a statement issued to the Associated Press. “The footage
released does not therefore allow any conclusions to be drawn as to
the quality of security at Singer Laren.”

The painting, which was on loan from another Dutch institution,
the Groninger Museum, has not been located. The oil-on-paper
work measures roughly 10 by 22 inches, and was painted around the
same time as Van Gogh’s famous The Potato Eaters,
when the artist was back home with his family in a rural part of
the Netherlands. The composition is of a person standing in a
garden before trees and a church tower.

“At the moment, the only thing that matters is that the footage
should yield useful tips and that the painting should be returned
undamaged to the Groninger Museum as soon as possible,” Van Os
said in his statement.

See footage of the heist below.

The post The Thief Who Stole a Prized Van Gogh From a Dutch
Museum Used a Sledgehammer to Break In. See Footage of the Brazen
Heist Here appeared first on artnet News.