Vincent Van Gogh Museum Art Theft: Flashback to 1991, Déjà Vu in 2002

Summary: The Vincent Van Gogh Museum art theft April 14, 1991, of 20 paintings set the stage for the devastating, 14-year loss Dec. 7, 2002, of two masterpieces.

"Aardappeleters (The Potato Eaters)," one of Vincent van Gogh's earliest paintings, numbered among 20 artworks removed during the Van Gogh Museum 1991 art theft: Van Gogh Museum, Monday, June 29, 2009, , 07:34: marlies bouton, CC BY SA 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons

The dates April 14, 1991, and Dec. 7, 2002, actuate negative connotations in their occurrence and positive invocations in their recurrence as Van Gogh Museum art theft anniversaries in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

The two thefts, as the only art crimes at the world-largest collection of van Gogh correspondence, drawings and paintings since June 2, 1973, brandished different means. The two crimes compelled caution, celerity and coordination by two perpetrators because of large artworks, multiple levels and security systems and due to police response times. The first of the  museum's only two art thefts drew upon a subsequently corrected weakness in closing time procedures and the second in after-hours rooftop access.

Police officers encountered all artworks, and no suspects, in the first case and both suspects one year, and both artworks nine years, later in the second.

"Still Life With Bible" (1885) was one of three paintings requiring serious restoration as a result of severe damage from the Van Gogh Museum 1991 art theft: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The New York Times furnished descriptions April 15, 1991, of two perpetrators armed with pistols, disguised by ski masks and gathering paintings into expandable garment bags.

Paul Montgomery (May 25, 1936-Oct. 16, 2008), New York Times reporter for local and international affairs, gleaned oddities in the thieves giving orders in "American-accented English." The two perpetrators had the third-shift weekend security guards "turn off the infrared-sensing alarm system, which can detect movement in a room, and other protective systems." Selecting and stuffing into two bags 20 of Vincent van Gogh's (March 30, 1853-July 29, 1890) "more valuable later works" involved a less than two-hour timeline.

The Van Gogh Museum art theft juggled timelines from 3 to 4:47 a.m. Amsterdam Daylight Time (ADT, 1 a.m. to 2:47 a.m. Coordinated Universal Time [UTC]).

"Still Life With Quinces, Lemons, Pears and Grapes" (1887), also known as "Still Life With Fruit," was one of three paintings requiring serious restoration as a result of severe damage from the Van Gogh Museum 1991 art theft: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The museum on Paulus Potterstraat, in the Museum Square of Amsterdam's Museum Quarter neighborhood, kept to 5 p.m. ADT (3 p.m. UTC) closes Saturdays in 1991.

Schedules led to reconstructions of both perpetrators locating hiding places, for at least 10 hours, somewhere amid three floors of paintings and a fourth of drawings. Their emergence manifested familiarity with the four-floor collection in their maximizing choices from the artist's "vibrant" French period and minimizing those from his "gloomy Dutch period." The two perpetrators nabbed one of the earliest masterpieces, The Potato Eaters of April 1885, and one of the last, Wheatfield With Crows of July 1890.

Van Gogh Museum art theft records observed a 4:48 a.m. ADT (2:48 a.m. UTC) alarm and a 5:23 a.m. ADT (3:23 a.m. UTC) recovery time.

"Wheatfield With Crows" (1890), one of Vincent van Gogh's last paintings, required serious restoration as a result of severe damage from the Van Gogh Museum 1991 art theft: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Eyewitness accounts and physical evidence pegged two perpetrators packing 20 paintings into two garment bags in a Volkswagen Passat for parking at the Amstel train station.

Seventeen paintings, "scratched by the rough handling," qualified for minor repairs and three, "severely torn when they were stuffed into the garment bags," for serious restoration. Ronald de Leeuw, museum director (1986-1996), revealed damage to Still Life With Bible of October 1885, Still Life With Fruit of 1887 and Wheatfield With Crows. Previous experience suggested the repairability of all 20 artworks, none of them insured, since "works with more serious damage had been successfully restored in the past."

Van Gogh Museum art theft trails respectively turned up artworks without perpetrators in 1991, and suspects without artworks from 2002 until 14 search-and-rescue years later.

Ronald de Leeuw, director of the museum at the time of the 1991 theft, deemed the 20 damaged paintings to be repairable; Ronald de Leeuw (second from right), Stichting Van Gogh (Van Gogh Foundation) press conference, Wednesday, Jan. 25, 1989; GaHetNa (Nationaal Archief NL) 934-3928: Rob C. Croes (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:

"Aardappeleters (The Potato Eaters)," one of Vincent van Gogh's earliest paintings, numbered among 20 artworks removed during the Van Gogh Museum 1991 art theft: 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

"Still Life With Bible" (1885) was one of three paintings requiring serious restoration as a result of severe damage from the Van Gogh Museum 1991 art theft: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Libro_Vincent_van_Gogh.jpg

"Still Life With Quinces, Lemons, Pears and Grapes" (1887), also known as "Still Life With Fruit," was one of three paintings requiring serious restoration as a result of severe damage from the Van Gogh Museum 1991 art theft: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vincent_van_Gogh_-_Kweeperen,_citroenen,_peren_en_druiven_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg

"Wheatfield With Crows" (1890), one of Vincent van Gogh's last paintings, required serious restoration as a result of severe damage from the Van Gogh Museum 1991 art theft: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:A_Vincent_Van_Gogh.jpg

Ronald de Leeuw, director of the museum at the time of the 1991 theft, deemed the 20 damaged paintings to be repairable; Ronald de Leeuw (second from right), Stichting Van Gogh (Van Gogh Foundation) press conference, Wednesday, Jan. 25, 1989; GaHetNa (Nationaal Archief NL) 934-3928: Rob C. Croes (ANEFO), Public Domain CC0 1.0 Universal, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:BechtPatijnLeeuwWolk.jpg;
CC0, via Nationaal Archief NL @ https://www.nationaalarchief.nl/onderzoeken/fotocollectie/ad7076d6-d0b4-102d-bcf8-003048976d84

For further information:

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

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

"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