Summary: The Van Gogh Museum art theft Dec. 7, 2002, in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, netted two oils on canvas two hours before regular Sunday opening hours.
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| Vincent van Gogh Museum art thefts Saturday, Dec. 7, 2002: "View of the Sea at Scheveningen" (left) and "The Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church in Nuenen" (right): Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons |
The Federal Bureau of Investigation assigns the Van Gogh Museum art theft Dec. 7, 2002, in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, a place on the FBI's list of top 10 unsolved art crimes.
The FBI bases the 10-member list upon violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 641 and 2114, 659, 668, 1170, 1951, and 2314 and 2315. The offenses respectively concern stealing government property, interstate shipments, museum artwork and Native American artifacts and remains, violently obstructing interstate commerce and transporting $5,000-plus-valued, stolen goods. Designation of the two missing, uninsured paintings as FBI list-eligible derives from their combined value of $100-plus million, museum provenance and suspected transportation in foreign commerce.
Contemporary newspaper articles exposed a devastating dimension to the two oils' removal in museum preparations for the following year's 150th anniversary celebration of the artist's birth.
Museum records and police reports furnish entry and exit scenarios to Museumplein's (Museum Square's) building with the world's largest collection of van Gogh drawings and paintings.
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| Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, scene of thefts of two paintings, Saturday, Dec. 7, 2002: Taxiarchos228 at the German language Wikipedia, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons |
Museum records and police reports furnish entry and exit scenarios to Museumplein's (Museum Square's) building with the world's largest collection of van Gogh drawings and paintings.
Contemporary newspaper articles give break-in around 8:00 a.m. Central Europe Standard Time (9:00 a.m. Greenwich Mean Time, Coordinated Universal Time), two hours before the museum's opening. They have the perpetrators heaving a 15-foot (4.57-meter) ladder, and an escape rope, for a broken window one story above street level and a roof hole. They identify forensics officers as carrying off a blanket or large cloth and window glass bits and the ladder as leaning against the museum's rear side.
The Van Gogh Museum art theft jeopardizes the well-being of a church-scape and one seascape by Vincent Willem van Gogh (March 30, 1853-July 29, 1890).
The museum, designed by Hans van Heeswijk, Kisho Kurokawa (April 8, 1934-Oct. 12, 2007) and Gerrit Rietveld (June 24, 1888-June 25, 1964), keeps artworks and correspondence.
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| "View of the Sea at Scheveningen," also known as "Beach at Scheveningen in Stormy Weather," 1882 oil on canvas by Vincent van Gogh, was removed from Amsterdam's Van Gogh Museum during Dec. 7, 2002, art theft: Van Gogh Museum, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons |
The museum, designed by Hans van Heeswijk, Kisho Kurokawa (April 8, 1934-Oct. 12, 2007) and Gerrit Rietveld (June 24, 1888-June 25, 1964), keeps artworks and correspondence.
Museum inventories list about 200 of 1,000 known paintings, 500 of 1,000-plus known drawings and 600 letters by Post-Impressionism's (1880s-1900s) artist from Zundert, North Brabant province. Contemporary newspaper articles mention museum staff as moving paintings into blank spaces on the museum's main exhibition hall on Paulus Potterstraat before regularly scheduled opening hours. They note the timely functioning of burglar alarms, a priority under John Leighton's directorship from 1997 to 2006, during the Van Gogh Museum art theft.
Former Director Leighton observed, "It's the worst thing that can happen to any museum that a property is stolen, but for any museum it's a risk."
The Amsterdam museum, open since 1973 to ever-increasing visitor traffic, estimated at 1.5-plus million nowadays, possesses some of the artist's most famous works, such as Sunflowers.
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| "The Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church in Nuenen," 1884 oil on canvas by Vincent van Gogh, rates among FBI top 10 art crimes after its removal from Amsterdam's Van Gogh Museum during Saturday, Dec. 7, 2002, art theft: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons |
The Amsterdam museum, open since 1973 to ever-increasing visitor traffic, estimated at 1.5-plus million nowadays, possesses some of the artist's most famous works, such as Sunflowers.
The Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church in Nuenen, church-scape from 1884, and View of the Sea at Scheveningen, from 1882, qualify as the only stolen artworks. The church-scape recalls a pastorship of the artist's parents, Theodorus van Gogh (Feb. 8, 1822-March 26, 1885) and Anna Cornelia Carbentus (Sept. 10, 1819-April 29, 1907). The seascape shows grains from flying sand, gusting winds, raging seas and thundery skies because of the artist's painting during one of the resort's famous storms.
The Van Gogh Museum art theft thwarts Theodorus van Gogh's (May 1, 1857-Jan. 25, 1891) unflagging commitment to public appreciation of his brother's artistic genius.
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| Museumplein ("Museum Square") unites three prestigious museums in Amsterdam; Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam (left), Van Gogh Museum (center) and Rijksmuseum (right); Saturday, Nov. 23, 2013, 12:30:56; Ed Webster (interbeat), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr |
Acknowledgment
My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.
Image credits:
Image credits:
Van Gogh Museum art thefts Saturday, Dec. 7, 2002: "View of the Sea at Scheveningen" (left) and "The Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church in Nuenen" (right): Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Zeegezicht_bij_Scheveningen_-_s0416M1990_-_Van_Gogh_Museum.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Van_Gogh_-_Die_Kirche_von_Nuenen_mit_Kirchgängern.jpeg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Zeegezicht_bij_Scheveningen_-_s0416M1990_-_Van_Gogh_Museum.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Van_Gogh_-_Die_Kirche_von_Nuenen_mit_Kirchgängern.jpeg
Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, scene of thefts of two paintings, Saturday, Dec. 7, 2002: Taxiarchos228 at the German language Wikipedia, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Van_Gogh_Museum_Amsterdam.jpg
"View of the Sea at Scheveningen," also known as "Beach at Scheveningen in Stormy Weather," 1882 oil on canvas by Vincent van Gogh, was removed from Amsterdam's Van Gogh Museum during Saturday, Dec. 7, 2002, art theft: Van Gogh Museum, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Zeegezicht_bij_Scheveningen_-_s0416M1990_-_Van_Gogh_Museum.jpg
"The Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church in Nuenen," 1884 oil on canvas by Vincent van Gogh, rates among FBI top 10 art crimes after its removal from Amsterdam's Van Gogh Museum during Saturday, Dec. 7, 2002, art theft: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Van_Gogh_-_Die_Kirche_von_Nuenen_mit_Kirchgängern.jpeg
Museumplein ("Museum Square") unites three prestigious museums in Amsterdam; Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam (left), Van Gogh Museum (center) and Rijksmuseum (right); Saturday, Nov. 23, 2013, 12:30:56; Ed Webster (interbeat), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/ed_webster/15026957601/
For further information:
For further information:
Marriner, Derdriu. 1 December 2017. "Vincent Van Gogh Museum Art Theft: Flashback to 1991, Déjà Vu in 2002." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/12/vincent-van-gogh-museum-art-theft.html
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/12/vincent-van-gogh-museum-art-theft.html
Marriner, Derdriu. 8 December 2017. "Vincent Van Gogh Museum Art Theft: 14 Years of Silence by the Suspects." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/12/vincent-van-gogh-museum-art-theft-14.html
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/12/vincent-van-gogh-museum-art-theft-14.html
Marriner, Derdriu. 24 March 2017. "Van Gogh Museum Theft Return by Gardner Museum Art Theft Anniversary." Earth and Space News. Friday.
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
Moroney, Lindsay. 22 November 2013. "Unsolved Art Heists: The Missing Paintings of Vincent van Gogh." Artnet Worldwide Corporation > Artnet News > Art World > Galleries.
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
NBCNews. December 2002. "From 2002: Thieves Steal 'Priceless' Van Gogh Paintings." Multimedia > Video.
Available @ http://www.nbcnews.com/video/from-2002-thieves-steal-priceless-van-gogh-paintings-776414275746
Reuters. 8 December 2002. "Two van Gogh Works Are Stolen in Amsterdam." The New York Times > World.
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
"Two Van Gogh Paintings Stolen." 7 December 2002. British Broadcasting Corporation > BBC News World Edition > Europe.
Available @ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2552877.stm
Available @ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2552877.stm
"Two Van Goghs Stolen from Museum." 7 December 2002. Cable News Network > CNN.com/World > Europe .
Available @ http://www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/europe/12/07/vangogh.stolen/
Available @ http://www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/europe/12/07/vangogh.stolen/
"Van Gogh Museum Robbery." Federal Bureau of Investigation > What We Investigate > Violent Crime > FBI Top Ten Art Crimes Art Crime Team.
Available @ https://www.fbi.gov/investigate/violent-crime/art-theft/fbi-top-ten-art-crimes/van-gogh-museum-robbery
Available @ https://www.fbi.gov/investigate/violent-crime/art-theft/fbi-top-ten-art-crimes/van-gogh-museum-robbery
Wochit News. "After 14 Years, Stolen Van Gogh Paintings Returned To Amsterdam Museum." YouTube. March 21, 2017.
Available @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Azb9H_92CFQ
Available @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Azb9H_92CFQ
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