On the walls of 'El Sauce', a well-known café in the El Palo neighborhood of Malaga that stands out for its churros with chocolate, hung one of his works. It was a reproduction of El Cautivo, the most revered Christ in the city. The waiters said that it was a gift for the affection with which they treated him and for knowing how to deal with it when he had a snatch. Because that tall, lanky guiri , who constantly seemed to be just getting up, had his character. And so it must be to bear the label of the world's greatest art thief. René Alphonse van den Berghe, known Erik the Belgian , has died at 81 years of age after spending 10 days admitted to a Malaga hospital. Criminal, painter, restaurateur and even writer. Genius and figure.
Born in Nivelles (Belgium) in 1940, and settled for many years in the Malaga capital, he was transferred to the Hospital Clínico Universitario to undergo surgery for a leg problem that ended up complicating a heart attack , according to El Confidencial and confirmed to EL MUNDO his current partner, Nuria de Madariaga, legal manager of VOX Algeciras.
Specialized in sacred art , he settled in Spain in 1976 -after escaping from Verviers prison-. He took advantage of the needs of a country that was entering post-Francoism to spoliate the churches. A task for which, on many occasions, he had the collaboration of the parish priests, who sold valuable carvings and altarpieces for four bitches. Erik had his own particular vision; "There were many pieces that were rotting and destroying. Now they are in museums, in collectors' houses, in well-kept places."
"The more they award me, the better" , he played when asked about the number of blows perpetrated, but then he threw down the calculations that fixed the figure of 600: "It is impossible! How can it be done? I would not sleep, nor I would eat - to carry them out. "
His relationship with the security forces was complex, as it could not be otherwise. "He bought, sold and stole" pieces throughout the country, explained recently the Malaga provincial commissioner, Javier Peña Echeverría, who declared to this newspaper that "a painting of his has been posted in the museum of the Avila Police School that he gave to Commissioner Conte, who was the one who stopped him. " Erik, for his part, claimed that he had advised in more than one investigation against his former guildmates, such as the theft of Esther Koplovitz's paintings.
But despite being arrested numerous times, and sitting on the dock, he bragged that "I have never been convicted of robbery." And he put his altruistic gestures on the other plate in the balance, like when he donated a painting to the nuns of the Good Samaritan of Nerja and helped raise funds for the construction of a nursing home.
help raise funds for the construction of a nursing home.
Erik claimed that he was not interested in fame, but he developed like a fish in water on a set and was a winning bet for late nights on private television. It played by distilling an ambiguity that strengthened that halo of mystery that has always been arrogant. who
In recent times he dedicated himself to enjoying life in the company of his partner. "I'm a happy guy, I paint and sell pictures . " El Sauce, the bar where he used to be one more parishioner, is closed to the brim and the workers are working to reform it. "Now there is a new owner." And a customer will be missing
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