Vincent Van Gogh Museum Art Theft: Netherlands to Italy and Back!

Summary: The Van Gogh Museum art theft casualties last years in a safe in Italy, months as criminal evidence and hopefully forever back in the Netherlands.

Gangsters Inc. @GangstersIncWeb via Twitter Oct. 1, 2016

Dutch and Italian police investigations account for arresting suspects in December 2003 and recovering artworks in September 2016 in the Van Gogh Museum art theft Dec. 7, 2002, in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

The two events bring closure to the institutional trauma and the national tragedy of Vincent van Gogh's (March 30, 1853-July 29, 1890) stolen churchscape and seascape. Although nothing communicated this information at the time of the two artworks' disappearance, an Italian coffee shop operator and marijuana salesman nicknamed Pinocchio connected both events. Pinocchio allegedly designates Raffaele Imperiale (born Oct. 24, 1974 in Castellammare), purported purchaser of the two stolen masterpieces in March 2003 for "around 350,000 euros (roughly $380,000)."

The deal exiled the cotton cloth-wrapped Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church in Nuenen and View of the Sea at Scheveningen to a hidden safe in Italy.

Maurizio Frizzi and Giovanni Ricci, Genoa-based lawyers for the Italian businessman currently favoring home bases in Dubai, furnished confirmation of the purchase as "a good bargain." Nina Siegal, reporter for The New York Times, gave as an additional motive behind the purchase the lawyers' generalization that "he [Imperiale] is fond of art."

The two missing masterpieces have had known homes in a Staatsliedenbuurt (State Leaders Neighborhood) apartment cupboard and in a safe in a hallway near a kitchen. The second location is the family home of Raffaele Imperiale's parents, in the seaside town of Castellammare di Stabia, 20 miles (32.19 kilometers) south of Naples.

view of Castellammare di Stabia, the seaside resort in southwestern Italy where two van Gogh paintings, stolen during the Van Gogh Museum 2002 art theft, were hidden: Koxy177, CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Public viewings through a media event and scheduled hours juxtaposed additional temporary homes until the recovered Vincent Van Gogh Museum art theft casualties' journey to Amsterdam.

The Italian police investigators under the name "Vincent" knew of the paintings' whereabouts through the collaboration of Mario Cerrone, one of 11 arrests in January 2016.

Giovanni Colangelo, Italian chief prosecutor in Naples, looked at the €20 million ($22,400,000) in seized airplane, boats, 49 properties and 88 bank accounts as criminal evidence. He mentioned the seized possessions and the stolen paintings as probably paid for with drug proceeds from international cocaine trafficking operations by the Camorra Mafia clan. Dario Franceschini, Minister of Cultural Heritage and Tourism since Feb. 22, 2014, noted art representing "a form of investment as well as a form of financing."

Millions of dollars in legitimate sales and unlawful occurrences offered many opportunities for obtaining financing and investments with the Vincent Van Gogh Museum art theft casualties.

The Museo di Capodimonte (National Museum of Capodimonte [Captain of the Mountain]) in Naples provided a first, temporary venue for public viewing until Feb. 26, 2017.

Packaging for, transporting to and unloading at the Van Gogh Museum queued up as scheduled events once both masterpieces quit serving as criminal evidence in Italy. Axel Rueger, museum director since April 1, 2006, revealed, "it is a dream for them to have been found and that they can be brought home." The two masterpieces submitted to restoration after showing from March 22 to May 31, 2017, under the rubric Ze zijn weer huis! (They're back home again!).

It took 14 years for the Vincent Van Gogh Museum art theft casualties to travel 1,159.42 miles (1,865.9 kilometers) from Amsterdam to Castellammare and back again.

An apartment cupboard and a hallway safe near a kitchen in west Amsterdam's Staatsliedenbuurt served as hiding places two oil on canvas paintings stolen during the Van Gogh Museum 2002 art theft; Kattensloot Canal in west Amsterdam neighborhood of Staatsliedenbuurt: Arch, Public Domain, 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:

"Meet Camorra drug boss Raffaele Imperiale, the man who owned stolen Van Gogh paintings worth $100 million.": Gangsters Inc. @GangstersIncWeb via Twitter Oct. 1, 2016, @ https://twitter.com/GangstersIncWeb/status/782336422002982916

view of Castellammare di Stabia, the seaside resort in southwestern Italy where two van Gogh paintings, stolen during the Van Gogh Museum 2002 art theft, were hidden: Koxy177, CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Castellammare_di_stabia.jpg?uselang=it

An apartment cupboard and a hallway safe near a kitchen served as hiding places for "View of the Sea at Scheveningen" and "The Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church in Nuenen," two oil on canvas paintings stolen during the Van Gogh Museum 2002 art theft; Kattensloot Canal in west Amsterdam neighborhood of Staatsliedenbuurt: Arch, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Staatsliedenbuurt_amsterdam.jpg

For further information:

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

Gangsters Inc. @GangstersIncWeb. 1 October 2016. "Meet Camorra drug boss Raffaele Imperiale, the man who owned stolen Van Gogh paintings worth $100 million." Twitter.
Available @ https://twitter.com/GangstersIncWeb/status/782336422002982916

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

Marriner, Derdriu. 15 December 2017. "Vincent Van Gogh Museum Art Theft Dec. 7, 2002, on a Quiet Sunday Morn." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/12/vincent-van-gogh-museum-art-theft-dec-7.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

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/

Siegal, Nina. 19 March 2017. "As Stolen Van Goghs Return to View, a Thief Tells All." The New York Times > Art & Design.
Available @ https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/19/arts/design/van-gogh-museum-theft-octave-dunham.html?_r=0

Siegal, Nina; and Povoledo, Elisabetta. 30 September 2016. "2 van Gogh Paintings Stolen From Amsterdam Are Recovered in Italy." The New York Times > Art & Design.
Available @ https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/01/arts/international/van-gogh-paintings-recovered.html

"Two Stolen Van Gogh Paintings Back on Display in Amsterdam." Euronews > Netherlands > 22 March 2017.
Available @ http://www.euronews.com/2017/03/22/two-stolen-van-gogh-paintings-back-on-display-in-amsterdam

Van Gogh Museum. 8 February 2017. "Van Gogh Returns -- Director Axel Rüger." YouTube.
Available @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlz6QK5pgug

"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