The Second Chácara do Céu Museum Art Theft: Two Dalí Balconies

Summary: Latin America no longer shows Dalí publicly since a painting of two Dalí balconies is one of five second Chácara do Céu Museum art theft casualties.

Salvador Dalí's Two Balconies (Portuguese: Os Dois Balcões), 1929 oil on wood stolen during Chácara do Céu Museum 2006 art theft: Federal Bureau of Investigation Art Crime Team, Public Domain, via FBI

The second Chácara do Céu Museum art theft Feb. 24, 2006, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, attains priority status on the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI's) top 10 unsolved art crimes list.

The second Chácara robbery bears a nickname as Latin America's equivalent of North America's Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art theft March 18, 1990, in Boston, Massachusetts. The second Chácara and the second Gardner Museum art crimes called up somewhat similar motives and opportunities and concern millions of dollars in objects and works. They respectively dragged away Latin America's only Salvador Dalí (May 11, 1904-Jan. 23, 1989) masterpiece and Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn's (July 15, 1606-Oct. 4, 1669) only seascape.

Absence of Dalí masterpieces from all other Latin American public collections elicited Two Balconies' exile and recovery in May 1989 and exile and mystery since 2006.

Costumes, masks and wigs as four followers of the Carmelite block (bloco das Carmelitas) for Carnival celebrations furnished the pretext for finding time for neighborhood art.

Staff, unarmed security guards gathered together from a private firm and visitors give 4 p.m. Brasília Time (7 p.m. Coordinated Universal Time) for unforced museum entries. The museum had no motion detection or surveillance footage records because of the quartet herding everyone into the staff office that has alarm and camera systems. Disconnected security systems and unrevealing Carnival costumes indicated nothing distinctive about four armed robbers with a driver and a navigator in a nondescript, parked getaway van.

The second Chácara do Céu Museum art theft jeopardizes the well-being of a book on bulls and of paintings respectively about balconies, dances, gardens and seascapes.

Chácara do Céu Museum's 2006 art theft played out amid Carnival's Carmelite Block celebrations; Rio de Janeiro's Carmelite Convent (Convento do Carmo) is the namesake of the Santa Teresa neighborhood's Carmelite Block during Carnival celebrations; 2007 view of Carmelite Convent: Fulviusbsas, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The hilltop mansion-like museum keeps Brazilian and  European artworks on three custom-furnished levels and 8,000-plus books in its library in Rio's Santa Teresa (Saint Teresa) neighborhood.

The armed intervention led to mugged, robbed guards, staff and visitors and left no indication of the grenade- and gun-laden quartet looking into any third-level holdings. One staff-person, three guards and five tourists mentioned one of the quartet mounting furniture to mangle, with a knife, the nylon wires maintaining one painting's place. They noted the quartet nabbing, in just 30 minutes, one illustrated book, Impressionist, post-Impressionist and modern artworks and Latin America's only Spanish realist on public display.

Newspaper coverage obtained, after the Chácara do Céu Museum art theft, observations from a private curator, an investigator, an Ipanema-based gallery owner-operator and the museum director.

Christina Penna postulated, "This is a museum with plenty of things in it, and they went past everything else and went straight for what they wanted."

Dueller Rocha quoted "the characteristics of the crime" and "the way the thieves acted" as possibly indicating "a contract job done for an international crime ring."

Jean Boghici (Jan. 28, 1928-May 31, 2015) revealed, "We can only hope the bandits turn the paintings over to someone who will take care of them."

Vera de Alencar saw Dalí as a key target since "Dalí's picture, for example, is the only one by him in public exhibition in Latin America."

Who took the 9.25- by 13.58-inch (23.5- by 34.5-centimeter) inventory number MCC430, titled Two Balconies from 1929, during the second Chácara do Céu Museum art theft?

Brazilian collector and dealer Jean Boghici hoped for proper care of the second Chácara do Céu Museum art theft paintings by whoever holds them: Época @RevistaEpoca, via Twitter June 2, 2015

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Salvador Dalí's Two Balconies (Portuguese: Os Dois Balcões), 1929 oil on wood stolen during Chácara do Céu Museum 2006 art theft: Federal Bureau of Investigation Art Crime Team, Public Domain, via FBI @ https://www.fbi.gov/investigate/violent-crime/art-theft/fbi-top-ten-art-crimes/theft-museu-chacara-do-ceu-rio-de-janeiro

Chácara do Céu Museum's 2006 art theft played out amid Carnival's Carmelite Block celebrations; Rio de Janeiro's Carmelite Convent (Convento do Carmo) is the namesake of the Santa Teresa neighborhood's Carmelite Block during Carnival celebrations; 2007 view of Carmelite Convent: Fulviusbsas, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rio-CarmoConvent.JPG

aerial panorama of Rio de Janeiro's Santa Teresa neighborhood, locale of Chácara do Céu Museum and the museum's two art thefts in 1989 and again in 2006: Chensiyuan, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1_santa_teresa_panorama_2014.jpg

Brazilian collector and dealer Jean Boghici hoped for proper care of the second Chácara do Céu Museum art theft paintings by whoever holds them: Época @RevistaEpoca, via Twitter June 1, 2015, @ https://twitter.com/RevistaEpoca/status/605533681525108736

For further information:

Agence France-Presse. 26 February 2006. "Brazil Art Heist Is Cloaked by Carnival." The New York Times > World > Americas.
Available @ http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/26/world/americas/brazil-art-heist-is-cloaked-by-carnival.html

Época @RevistaEpoca. "Jean Boghici, um idealista apaixonado pela arte. O marchand morreu aos 87 anos, no Rio." Twitter. June 1, 2015.
Available @ https://twitter.com/RevistaEpoca/status/605533681525108736

Marriner, Derdriu. 5 May 2017. "Gardner Museum Art Theft Unsolved on Chácara Museum Theft Anniversary." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/05/gardner-museum-art-theft-unsolved-on.html

McMahon, Colin. 28 February 2006. "Gunmen Use Brazil's Carnival as Cover in $50 Million Art Heist." Chicago Tribune > News.
Available @ http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2006-02-28/news/0602280108_1_picasso-art-thieves-million-art-heist

Nikkhah, Roya; and Downie, Andrew. 26 February 2006. "Carnival Gang Grabs £30M Art Treasures from Rio Museum." The Telegraph > News > World News > South America.
Available @ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/southamerica/argentina/1511532/Carnival-gang-grabs-30m-art-treasures-from-Rio-museum.html

Siquara, Carlos Andrei. 5 February 2016. "No Rastro de Obras Perdidas." O Tempo > Magazine > Diversão > Livro.
Available @ http://www.otempo.com.br/divers%C3%A3o/magazine/no-rastro-de-obras-perdidas-1.1226775

Skidmore, Thomas E. 1999. Brazil: Five Centuries of Change in Latin America. Latin American Histories series. New York NY: Oxford University Press.

Hope for Chácara do Céu Museum Art Theft and Gardner Museum Art Theft

Summary: Vincent Van Gogh Museum art theft recoveries give Chácara do Céu Museum art theft and Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art theft casualties hope.

Rio de Janeiro's Museu da Chácara do Céu (Chácara do Céu Museum), site of Friday, Feb. 24, 2006, theft of four artworks: Ministério da Cultura do Brasil, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons

The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art theft March 18, 1990, anticipated the Vincent Van Gogh Museum art theft Dec. 7, 2002, and the Chácara do Céu Museum art theft Feb. 24, 2006.

A foray into art museum history brings up ominous foreshadowing in 1970 in Massachusetts, May 3, 1989, in Brazil and April 15, 1991, in The Netherlands. The dates call up thefts of the same Rembrandt self-portrait in 1970 and 1990 and of the same Dalí and Matisse oils in 1989 and 2006. They draw upon similar means as their successors: deceiving on-duty security guards in Boston, demonstrating armed force in Rio de Janeiro, devising after-hours access in Amsterdam.

The three precursor thefts experienced timely endings within their respective event cities, unlike the ongoing, unsolved thefts in Rio, Boston and, until Sept. 25, 2016, Amsterdam.

Salvador Dalí's Two Balconies (Portuguese: Os Dois Balcões), 1929 oil on wood stolen during Chácara do Céu Museum 2006 art theft: Federal Bureau of Investigation Art Crime Team, Public Domain, via FBI

Suspected art theft perpetrators and stolen artwork controllers found the Amsterdam, Boston and Rio museums functioning without insurance policies due to the prohibitive cost of premiums. Harold Smith (Feb. 7, 1926-Feb. 19, 2005), world-famous independent fine arts claims adjuster, gave a $3 million price tag to completely underwritten Gardner collections for 2005. He had alternate, same-year figures of $10,000 to $50,000 in annual premiums for prioritized underwriting honed to Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum yearly budgets of $2.8 million.

The Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, included in AGNSW museum history an art theft casualty June 10, 2007, and, unusually, insurance coverage. The $2 million in contributions and insurance jumped the AGNSW over the post-theft financial pressures that jeopardize operating costs and security systems in Boston and Rio.

Henri Matisse's Luxembourg Garden (Portuguese: Jardim de Luxemburgo), 1905 oil on canvas stolen during Chácara do Céu Museum 2006 art theft: Federal Bureau of Investigation Art Crime Team, Public Domain, via FBI

The AGNSW and the Chácara do Céu, Gardner and Van Gogh Museum art theft experiences keynote the dual importance of insurance coverage and of security systems.

Art sleuth Smith listed among Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art theft vulnerabilities side entrances unprotected by a second door, unenclosed watch rooms and unsecured telephone lines. Burglar alarms, motion detectors and security cameras made no difference when mangled during the armed, daytime Chácara do Céu Museum art theft and Gardner third-shift experiences. They nurtured similar roadblocks when after-hours access nudged Vincent Van Gogh Museum art theft suspects through a roof hole and out a window before police arrivals.

Alarms, cameras and detectors operate at a disadvantage when coverage occurs in some rooms and not others, as in the case of the AGNSW art theft.

Claude Monet's Marine (Portuguese: Marinha), 1880-1980 oil on canvas stolen during Chácara do Céu Museum 2006 art theft: Federal Bureau of Investigation Art Crime Team, Public Domain, via FBI

The 1970 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art theft suspect perplexed a guard with bagged, smashed light bulbs and pockets Rembrandt's postage stamp-sized self-portrait for several months. The 1989 Chácara do Céu Museum art theft qualified as an even shorter extraction with arrests in Praia de Botafogo and artwork recoveries within three weeks. Two American English-speaking 1991 Vincent Van Gogh Museum art theft suspects removed 20 paintings recovered 36 minutes later from garment bags in an abandoned Volkswagen Passat.

The 2002 Vincent Van Gogh Museum art theft recovery in Italy Sept. 25, 2016, and restoration for public Amsterdam viewings March 21, 2017, support happy endings. Van Gogh Museum Director Axel Rueger's words, "The children are safely returned now and they really are safe," tell Boston, Rio and Sydney to tweak hopefulness.

Pablo Picasso's Dance (Portuguese: A Dança), 1956 oil on canvas stolen during Chácara do Céu Museum 2006 art theft: Federal Bureau of Investigation Art Crime Team, Public Domain, via FBI

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Rio de Janeiro's Museu da Chácara do Céu (Chacara do Céu Museum), site of Friday, Feb. 24, 2006, theft of four artworks: Ministério da Cultura do Brasil, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Museu_da_Ch%C3%A1cara_do_C%C3%A9u_01.jpg

Salvador Dalí's Two Balconies (Portuguese: Os Dois Balcões), 1929 oil on wood stolen during Chácara do Céu Museum 2006 art theft: Federal Bureau of Investigation Art Crime Team, Public Domain, via FBI @ https://www.fbi.gov/investigate/violent-crime/art-theft/fbi-top-ten-art-crimes/theft-museu-chacara-do-ceu-rio-de-janeiro

Henri Matisse's Luxembourg Garden (Portuguese: Jardim de Luxemburgo), 1905 oil on canvas stolen during Chácara do Céu Museum 2006 art theft: Federal Bureau of Investigation Art Crime Team, Public Domain, via FBI @ https://www.fbi.gov/investigate/violent-crime/art-theft/fbi-top-ten-art-crimes/theft-museu-chacara-do-ceu-rio-de-janeiro

Claude Monet's Marine (Portuguese: Marinha), 1880-1980 oil on canvas stolen during Chácara do Céu Museum 2006 art theft: Federal Bureau of Investigation Art Crime Team, Public Domain, via FBI @ https://www.fbi.gov/investigate/violent-crime/art-theft/fbi-top-ten-art-crimes/theft-museu-chacara-do-ceu-rio-de-janeiro

Pablo Picasso's Dance (Portuguese: A Dança), 1956 oil on canvas stolen during Chácara do Céu Museum 2006 art theft: Federal Bureau of Investigation Art Crime Team, Public Domain, via FBI @ https://www.fbi.gov/investigate/violent-crime/art-theft/fbi-top-ten-art-crimes/theft-museu-chacara-do-ceu-rio-de-janeiro

For further information:

Amore, Anthony; and Vicki Oliveri. Stolen Cavalier: Dedicated to Recovering a Cavalier by Frans van Mieris through Crowd-Sourcing Information. Blog at WordPress.com.
Available @ https://stolencavalier.wordpress.com/

Canellos, Peter S. 19 March 1990. "Secret Collector's Passion or Ransom Seen as Motive." Boston Globe > Metro.
Available @ https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/1990/03/19/secret-collector-passion-ransom-seen-motive/uexhMgL27LCo2pqcUXgzVL/story.html

Escritt, Thomas. 21 March 2017. "Stolen Van Gogh Paintings Back in Amsterdam After 14 Years." Reuters > Edition: United States > Life > Arts > Lifestyle.
Available @ http://www.reuters.com/article/us-art-vangogh-idUSKBN16S15J

Hill, Lisa. 6 February 2017. "Van Gogh Museum Announces Date for Return of Stolen Paintings to Amsterdam." Sutton > Van Gogh Museum Amsterdam.
Available @ http://suttonpr.com/assets/Press-release-Van-Gogh-Museum-announces-date-for-return-of-stolen-paintings-to-Amsterdam.pdf

Kurkjian, Stephen. 13 March 2005. "The Gardner Heist: Secrets behind the Largest Art Theft in History." The Boston Globe > Boston.com > News > Special Reports > Globe Special Reports. Available @ http://archive.boston.com/news/specials/gardner_heist/heist/

Marriner, Derdriu. 31 March 2017. "Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Art Theft: Dead-ends to the Gardner 13." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/03/isabella-stewart-gardner-museum-art_31.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 14 April 2017. "Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Art Theft: Mashberg and Massachusetts." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/04/isabella-stewart-gardner-museum-art_14.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 7 April 2017. "Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Art Theft: Robert Wittman and Corsica." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/04/isabella-stewart-gardner-museum-art.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

Montgomery, Paul L. 15 April 1991. "Lost and Found: Huge van Gogh Theft Fails." The New York Times > Arts > International Arts.
Available @ http://www.nytimes.com/1991/04/15/arts/lost-and-found-huge-van-gogh-theft-fails.html

Skidmore, Thomas E. 1999. Brazil: Five Centuries of Change in Latin America. Latin American Histories series. New York NY: Oxford University Press.

Tardáguila, Cristina. 2016. A Arte do Descaso. Rio de Janeiro Brazil: Editora Intrínseca.
Available @ https://www.amazon.com.br/Arte-do-Descaso-Cristina-Tard%C3%A1guila/dp/8580578965/ref=sr_1_1_twi_pap_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1452189811&sr=8-1&keywords=a+arte+do+descas