Summary: The Van Gogh Museum art theft sat on FBI top 10 unsolved art crimes lists, despite two arrests, until the artworks, and the next steal, surfaced.
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| Vincent van Gogh's sentimental painting of his father's Dutch Reformed church for his mother during her recovery from a broken leg was one of two artworks stolen from Amsterdam's Van Gogh Museum and, until their recovery in 2016, ranked among the FBI's top 10 art thefts; Wednesday, Feb.17, 2016, 12:09, image of Theodorus van Gogh's Dutch Reformed Church (Dutch: Nederlandse Hervormde Kerk), Nuenen, North Brabant (Dutch: Noord-Brabant) province, southern Netherlands: Rosemoon, CC BY SA 4.0 International, via Wikimedia Commons |
The Van Gogh Museum art theft Dec. 7, 2002, in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, appears on Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) lists of 10 top unsolved art crimes even after two arrests.
Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) evidence, eyewitness observations and security camera footage brought about two arrests, in Amsterdam and in Puerto Banús, near Mallorca, Spain, in Dec. 2003. Physical evidence on a discarded baseball cap, and possibly on a broken window, a large cloth, a roof hole and an abandoned ladder convicted both suspects. British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), NL (Netherlands) Times and New York Times articles described one four-year sentence and, respectively and variously, another 4.5-year, 3.5-year or 25-month sentence.
Convictions July 26, 2004, under Judge Ge Janssen, exacted lesser sentencing for suspected accomplice Henk Bieslijn and a slightly longer sentence for suspected perpetrator Octave Durham.
The FBI found room in its National Stolen Art File database, and time for its 16 Art Crime Team special agents, to follow leads until retrieval. Mariëtte Bussemaker, Minister of Education, Culture and Science since Nov. 5, 2012, gauged justice as getting served with perpetrators in prison and paintings on museum walls.
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| Her Excellency Mariëtte (Jet) Bussemaker, Minister of Education, Culture and Science, ascertains justice in return of paintings to museum walls and placement of perpetrators in prison: Rijksoverheid (Government of the Netherlands), Public Domain (CC0 1.0), via Wikimedia Commons |
The FBI found room in its National Stolen Art File database, and time for its 16 Art Crime Team special agents, to follow leads until retrieval. Mariëtte Bussemaker, Minister of Education, Culture and Science since Nov. 5, 2012, gauged justice as getting served with perpetrators in prison and paintings on museum walls.
Newspapers have no record of any public confession to guilt by either suspect, both of whom held to being framed and innocent, until March 21, 2017. A 45-minute documentary on that date, through KRO-NCRV (Katholieke Radio Omroep, Nederlandse Christelijke Radio Vereniging [Catholic Radio Broadcasting, Dutch Christian Radio Association]), included the Durham confession.
De man die twee Van Goghs stal (The Man Who Stole Two Van Goghs) jostled recollections of just one Van Gogh Museum art theft suspect.
Vincent Verweij, co-author with Wim Van de Pol of The Holloway Files, kept the documentary film focused upon "art theft from the perspective of the thief." Meetings through crime blogger Martin Kok in 2015 led to filming once Durham "admitted that he'd told me a lie and that he did the break-in."
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| "Morgen in de Telegraaf, de hoofdpersoon van mijn documentaire. Okkie Durham, de man die twee Van Goghs stal. Dinsdag op tv, 20:30u, NPO2." (English: Tomorrow in De Telegraaf, the main character of my documentary. Okkie Durham, the man who stole two Van Goghs. Tuesday on TV, 20:30 [8:30 PM], [channel] NPO2): Vincent Verweij @vverweij, via Twitter March 17, 2017 |
Vincent Verweij, co-author with Wim Van de Pol of The Holloway Files, kept the documentary film focused upon "art theft from the perspective of the thief." Meetings through crime blogger Martin Kok in 2015 led to filming once Durham "admitted that he'd told me a lie and that he did the break-in."
The interviewee mentioned the over-sized Potato Eaters, one of 20 paintings removed from, and returned to, the museum April 14, 1991, and over-guarded Sunflowers as targets. He noted needing to ad-lib with the churchscape and the seascape as alternate targets negotiating escapes by ladder or rope and nestling into a takeaway bag.
Damage occurred in the form of a "missing rectangular chip from the bottom left-hand corner" of the seascape during the Van Gogh Museum art theft.
The getaway proved so stressed, with protocol permitting an eyewitness security guard to phone police but not pursue perpetrators, that the seascape plunked down too hard.
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| "Aardappeleters (The Potato Eaters)" was considered as a target during the December 2002 break-in; Van Gogh Museum, Monday, June 29, 2009, 07:34: marlies bouton, CC BY SA 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons |
The getaway proved so stressed, with protocol permitting an eyewitness security guard to phone police but not pursue perpetrators, that the seascape plunked down too hard.
The documentary quoted Durham, assistant and driver to his TopNotch hip-hop-recording daughter, as dumping frames in a canal and flushing loosened paint chips down a toilet. It revealed Cor van Hout (Aug. 18, 1957-Jan. 24, 2003), kidnapper of billionaire Alfred Heineken (Nov. 4, 1923-Jan. 3, 2002) Nov. 9, 1983, as intended buyer. The painting stayed in a Staatsliedenbuurt (State Leaders Neighborhood) apartment cupboard longer than expected, because of the intended purchaser's death the Friday of the planned sale.
The documentary tracked both Van Gogh Museum art theft casualties to marijuana-selling coffee shop operator Pinocchio's purchase March 2003 for "around 350,000 euros (roughly $380,000)."
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| Vincent Verweij's documentary of the Van Gogh Museum 2002 art theft reveals Cor van Hout, co-kidnapper of Alfred "Freddy" Heineken in 1983, as the intended buyer of the stolen seascape; Thursday, Jan. 22, 1987, cropped image of Cor van Hout during his and Willem Holleeder's trial at Amsterdam's Paleis von Justitie (Palace of Justice) as Heineken kidnappers; GaHetNa (Nationaal Archief NL) 933-8690: Rob Bogaerts (ANEFO), Public Domain CC0 1.0 Universal, via Wikimedia Commons |
Acknowledgment
My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.
Image credits:
Image credits:
Vincent van Gogh's sentimental painting of his father's Dutch Reformed church for his mother during her recovery from a broken leg was one of two artworks stolen from Amsterdam's Van Gogh Museum and, until their recovery in 2016, ranked among the FBI's top 10 art thefts; Wednesday, Feb.17, 2016, 12:09, image of Theodorus van Gogh's Dutch Reformed Church (Dutch: Nederlandse Hervormde Kerk), Nuenen, North Brabant (Dutch: Noord-Brabant) province, southern Netherlands: Rosemoon, CC BY SA 4.0 International, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NH_kerk,_Papenvoort_2A,_Nuenen.jpg
Her Excellency Mariëtte (Jet) Bussemaker, Minister of Education, Culture and Science: Rijksoverheid (Government of the Netherlands), Public Domain (CC0 1.0), via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jet_Bussemaker_2012.jpg
"Morgen in de Telegraaf, de hoofdpersoon van mijn documentaire. Okkie Durham, de man die twee Van Goghs stal. Dinsdag op tv, 20:30u, NPO2." (English: Tomorrow in De Telegraaf, the main character of my documentary. Okkie Durham, the man who stole two Van Goghs. Tuesday on TV, 20:30 [8:30 PM], [channel] NPO2: Vincent Verweij @vverweij, via Twitter March 17, 2017, @ https://twitter.com/vverweij/status/842831407298871298
"Aardappeleters (The Potato Eaters)" was considered as a target during the December 2002 break-in; Van Gogh Museum, Monday, June 29, 2009, 07:34: marlies bouton, CC BY SA 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WLANL_-_efraa_-_aardappeleters_Vincent_van_Gogh_1885.jpg
Vincent Verweij's documentary of the Van Gogh Museum 2002 art theft reveals Cor van Hout, co-kidnapper of Alfred "Freddy" Heineken in 1983, as the intended buyer of the stolen seascape; Thursday, Jan. 22, 1987, cropped image of Cor van Hout during his and Willem Holleeder's trial at Amsterdam's Paleis von Justitie (Palace of Justice) as Heineken kidnappers; GaHetNa (Nationaal Archief NL) 933-8690: Rob Bogaerts (ANEFO), Public Domain CC0 1.0 Universal, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:VHout_(cropped).jpg; CC0, via Nationaal Archief NL @ https://www.nationaalarchief.nl/onderzoeken/fotocollectie/ad5bd4d8-d0b4-102d-bcf8-003048976d84
For further information:
For further information:
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Available @ http://www.foxnews.com/story/2004/07/27/van-gogh-thieves-say-were-framed.html
Available @ http://www.foxnews.com/story/2004/07/27/van-gogh-thieves-say-were-framed.html
Associated Press and Sarah Dean for MailOnline. 30 September 2016. "Two Van Gogh Paintings Stolen in a Daring Raid from a Dutch Museum in 2002 Are FOUND Wrapped in a Cloth in a Safe After Tip-off from a Mafia Suspect Led Italian Police to Hideout." Daily Mail > News > World News > Arts.
Available @ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3815383/2-Van-Gogh-paintings-recovered-Italian-anti-Mafia-police.html
Available @ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3815383/2-Van-Gogh-paintings-recovered-Italian-anti-Mafia-police.html
Broekroelofs, Jelle. 21 March 2017. "Hoe deze Amsterdamse man twee Van Goghs stal." Brandpunt.
Available @ https://brandpunt.kro-ncrv.nl/brandpunt/deze-man-stal-twee-van-goghs/
Available @ https://brandpunt.kro-ncrv.nl/brandpunt/deze-man-stal-twee-van-goghs/
de Boer, Sacha. 21 March 2017. "Brandpunt Special: De Van Gogh-roof." Katholieke Radio Omroep en Nederlandse Christelijke Radio Vereniging > KRO-NCRV > Programma's > Brandpunt.
Available @ http://pers.kro-ncrv.nl/programmas/brandpunt/brandpunt-special-de-van-gogh-roof
Available @ http://pers.kro-ncrv.nl/programmas/brandpunt/brandpunt-special-de-van-gogh-roof
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Available @ https://twitter.com/dwdd/status/844216908912230401
Available @ https://twitter.com/dwdd/status/844216908912230401
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Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/12/vincent-van-gogh-museum-art-theft.html
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Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/03/van-gogh-museum-theft-return-by-gardner.html
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/03/van-gogh-museum-theft-return-by-gardner.html
McKenna, Josephine. 30 September 2016. "Van Gogh Masterpieces Stolen from Amsterdam in Daring Heist 14 Years Ago Turn up in Italian Mafia's Country Mansion." The Telegraph > News.
Available @ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/09/30/van-gogh-paintings-discovered-in-italy-14-years-after-they-were/
Available @ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/09/30/van-gogh-paintings-discovered-in-italy-14-years-after-they-were/
Montgomery, Paul L. 15 April 1991. "Lost and Found: Huge van Gogh Theft Fails." The New York Times > U.S. Edition > Arts.
Available @ http://www.nytimes.com/1991/04/15/arts/lost-and-found-huge-van-gogh-theft-fails.html
Available @ http://www.nytimes.com/1991/04/15/arts/lost-and-found-huge-van-gogh-theft-fails.html
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Available @ https://news.artnet.com/market/unsolved-art-heists-the-missing-paintings-of-vincent-van-gogh-35614
Available @ https://news.artnet.com/market/unsolved-art-heists-the-missing-paintings-of-vincent-van-gogh-35614
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Available @ https://twitter.com/omroepvara/status/844237671467794436
Available @ https://twitter.com/omroepvara/status/844237671467794436
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Available @ http://nltimes.nl/2017/03/21/van-gogh-museum-robber-claims-hid-football-legend-patrick-kluivert
Available @ http://nltimes.nl/2017/03/21/van-gogh-museum-robber-claims-hid-football-legend-patrick-kluivert
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Available @ http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/08/world/two-van-gogh-works-are-stolen-in-amsterdam.html
Available @ http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/08/world/two-van-gogh-works-are-stolen-in-amsterdam.html
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Available @ https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/19/arts/design/van-gogh-museum-theft-octave-dunham.html?_r=0
Available @ https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/19/arts/design/van-gogh-museum-theft-octave-dunham.html?_r=0
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Available @ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3928943.stm
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Available @ http://www.euronews.com/2017/03/22/two-stolen-van-gogh-paintings-back-on-display-in-amsterdam
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Available @ https://brandpunt.kro-ncrv.nl/brandpuntplus/twee-gestolen-van-goghs/
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Available @ https://www.fbi.gov/investigate/violent-crime/art-theft/fbi-top-ten-art-crimes/van-gogh-museum-robbery
Vincent Verweij @vverweij. 17 March 2017. "Morgen in de Telegraaf, de hoofdpersoon van mijn documentaire. Okkie Durham, de man die twee Van Goghs stal. Dinsdag op tv, 20:30u, NPO2." Twitter.
Available @ https://twitter.com/vverweij/status/842831407298871298
Available @ https://twitter.com/vverweij/status/842831407298871298
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Available @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHNa_GA7AWk
Available @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHNa_GA7AWk
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