On his birthday .. Corona steals a painting by Van Gogh, in the Netherlands

Yara Issa

Art was not spared from the emerging coronavirus, as was the case in other areas of life affected by the epidemic. Exhibitions and museums were closed, and all artistic activities were suspended to avoid gatherings that might contribute to the further spread of the virus.

These measures, even if they reduce the number of HIV infections, but they opened a wide space for thieves, as unknown persons took advantage of the world’s preoccupation with the Corona pandemic and its news and imposed quarantine and the closure of most shops, thus ensuring almost empty streets, which allowed them to enter the Singer Laren Museum. In the Netherlands, the painting is stolen by Dutch artist Vincent Van Gogh.

Where the director of the museum, Evert Van Aus, announced yesterday, Monday 30 March, after several hours of the theft operation - through a press conference - that a group of thieves stormed the closed museum and stole the painting "The Garden of Nunnen in the Spring - 1884", which was carried out by "Van Gogh" He drew it while he was at his father's house.

Reuters reported that the painting was borrowed from the "Groniger Museum", knowing that its value is estimated at between one million euros and six million, according to local sources, as its financial value has not been officially announced yet.

As for the Dutch police, they admitted the robbery incident, which occurred about three and a half in the morning, and confirmed that the museum still preserves all other artwork.

For his part, the Van Gogh Museum in the Netherlands posted a sad tweet on Twitter, especially since the theft of the painting coincided with the painter's birthday.

This was not the first time that one of Van Gogh's paintings was stolen. Two paintings, "A View of the Sea in Scheveningen" and "A Compound Leaving the Reformed Church in Nunnen" by the Italian Mafia in 2002, were previously stolen from the Van Gogh Museum in the Dutch capital, Amsterdam. They were not found until 2016, to be re-exhibited after two years of repairing the damage they suffered.

The "Poppy Flower" painting - which is valued at about $ 50 million - was also stolen in late August 2010 from the Mahmoud Khalil and Consort Museum in the Egyptian capital, Cairo. This same painting had been stolen in 1978, and then a mysteriously returned to the museum, which raised doubts since that time whether the painting was original or a replica.

It is noteworthy that Vincent van Gogh was born on March 30, 1853, and he is one of the most prominent Dutch artists, and during his life he suffered several seizures that led him to cut off his left ear.

Van Gogh's life was marked by sadness and gloom, and this was evident in his most famous saying, "Sadness lasts forever", ending his life at the age of 37 with a bullet in his chest.

Van Gogh is considered one of the pioneers of impressionist and brutal schools, and during his short life he left dozens of paintings that were grouped into groups, such as the silent nature, rose bouquets (sunflower), personal paintings, theoretical paintings (Langlois bridges, wheat field near cypress trees, and glistening night), Some of these paintings are the world's best-selling.