Closed museum, stolen painting. The work of painter Vincent Van Gogh, Le jardin du presbytère de Nuenen au printemps , was stolen from a museum in the Netherlands closed to the public due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the establishment announced on Monday.
On the night of Sunday to Monday, burglars broke into the glass front door of the Singer Laren museum, some 30 km from Amsterdam, before taking over the painting in
both in 1884, said Dutch police.
Estimated value between one and six million euros
The museum has been closed for about two weeks and until June 1 at least, the Dutch government having banned all public gatherings to fight against the spread of the new coronavirus, which has killed more than 770 people in the country.
The value of the painting is estimated between one and six million euros, according to Arthur Brand, a Dutch art expert. "The hunt is on," warned Brand, nicknamed the "Indiana Jones of the art world" and notably known for having found in 2015 two bronze horses by Josef Thorak, one of Hitler's favorite sculptors.
This is the third flight of a Van Gogh in the Netherlands since the 1990s, he told AFP. The theft occurred, day to day, 167 years after the birth of the Dutch post-impressionist master on March 30, 1853.
World
Van Gogh paintings quarantined in Japan due to coronavirus
Culture
European Night of Museums postponed from May to November
- Coronavirus
- Containment
- Culture
- Netherlands
- Burglary
- Painting
- Art