Earth and Space News: Oslo Munch Museum Madonna 2004 art theft

Showing posts with label Oslo Munch Museum Madonna 2004 art theft. Show all posts

Friday, August 11, 2017

Munch Museum Madonna Art Theft 2004: Arrests in 2005, Sentences in 2006

Summary: The Munch Museum Madonna art theft Aug. 31, 2004, has alleged suspects by October 2005, court rulings in May 2006 and two paintings back in August 2006.

Oslo's Munch Museum displays "Madonna" (second from right), safely recovered in 2006, during "Emma & Edvard -- Love in the Time of Loneliness" exhibit, Saturday, Jan. 28, to Monday, April 17, 2017; Munch's Madonna on Slow Art Day, Saturday, April 8, 2017; photo by Jonathan Vivaas Kise: Munch Museet (themunchmuseum), via Instagram April 8, 2017

Good old-fashioned police work of analyzing evidence and leads accounts for the status of closed case Aug. 31, 2006, to the Munch Museum Madonna art theft Aug. 22, 2004, in Oslo, Norway.

Investigations bring about an arrest just over seven months after the armed intervention, a reward offer of two million kroner ($294,000) and sentencing of three suspects. They continue alongside the airport-style security system deployed during the museum's closing from Sept. 6, 2004, until June 18, 2005, two months after the first arrest. They draw the oil on canvas and the tempera on cardboard versions of Edvard Munch's (Dec. 12, 1863-Jan. 23, 1944) two most famous artworks back home.

Museum security and police protocols ensure the safe success of the exhibited artworks Sept. 27 to Oct. 1, 2006, and May 22 to Sept. 26, 2008.

Police vans and journalists still outside Oslo's Munch Museum two hours after 2004 art theft of "Madonna" and "The Scream"; Sunday, Aug. 22, 2004, 13:22: Torstein Frogner, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons

Oslo Police Detective Chief Inspector Kjell Pedersen's finding that "We're following all possible leads" even though "we don't know who did this" fuels the worst fears.

Leads give a perpetrator "grabbing" Madonna "off the wall" and "banging it against the wall and against the ground because the gray strings weren't breaking off." They have two black-clothed, black-hooded, black-masked perpetrators dropping Madonna and The Scream twice before shoving them into a black Audi A6 and smashing their gilded frames. Destruction of suspected tracking devices impels the frames' strewn wreckage all over the street near tennis courts about one mile (1.61 kilometer) from the Munch Museum.

Munch Museum Madonna art theft leads juggle evidence from the Audi fire-gutted with thick, white foam jeopardizing viable deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and fingerprints near fanned-out frames.

Munch Museum 2004 art thieves absconded with "Madonna" as well as Edvard Munch's most famous artwork, "The Scream": Google Art Project, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Brutality in the museum, in the Audi and on the street kindle Madonna's and The Scream's rumored destruction as too well-known for the black market's clientele.

An incident Sept. 24, 2004, just north of Oslo, leads to rumors that label Munch's Madonna as more damaged than The Scream and as subsequently destroyed. Professional drag racer Thomas Nataas mentions Madonna and The Scream as maintained, without his permission, in a white garbage bag inside his bus for 30-plus days. He notes the damaged Madonna as necessitating restoration because of a coin-sized, one-inch (2.5-centimeter) hole in one corner and the undamaged Scream as needing no repairs.

Assistant Police Chief Iver Stensrud offers no information about Madonna's and The Scream's whereabouts after obtaining an interview with Sverre Næss's unnamed client Dec. 22, 2004.

The trial of suspects in the Munch Museum 2004 "Madonna" art theft took place in Oslo District Court (Oslo tingrett), which is housed in the Oslo Courthouse (Oslo tinghus); exterior view of Oslo Courthouse, Feb. 10, 2008, 14:37: Mahlum, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The following year presents progress by pinpointing potential perpetrators and by publicizing arrests by April, and charges by December, 2005 prefatory to trial Feb. 14, 2006.

Rulings May 2, 2006, by the three-judge panel under Judge Arne Lyng qualify Morten Hugo Johansen, Thomas Nataas and Stian Skjold as acquitted of criminal charges. They require 50-50 responsibility by Bjorn Hoen and Petter Tharaldsen in repaying the City of Oslo the masterpieces' 750 million kroner ($121 million, £66.3 million) value. They sentence Bjorn Hoen, Petter Rosenvinge and Petter Tharaldsen, as respectively alleged ideator, vehicle supplier and vehicle driver, to respective seven-, four- and eight-year prison terms.

The Munch Museum Madonna art theft, like the Van Gogh Museum art theft Dec. 7, 2002, turns up suspected perpetrators, not stolen artworks, within one year.

Acknowledgment

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

Image credits:

Munch Museum 2004 art thieves absconded with "Madonna" as well as Edvard Munch's most famous artwork, "The Scream": Google Art Project, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Edvard_Munch_-_The_Scream_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg

The trial of suspects in the Munch Museum 2004 "Madonna" art theft took place in Oslo District Court (Oslo tingrett), which is housed in the Oslo Courthouse (Oslo tinghus); exterior view of Oslo Courthouse, Sunday, Feb. 10, 2008, 14:37: Mahlum, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Oslo_tinghus.jpg

Professional drag racer Thomas Nataas testified that Munch's "Madonna" and "Scream" were kept, without his permission, inside his bus for 30-plus days: Thomas Nataas (thomasnataas), via Instagram Feb. 11, 2017, @ https://www.instagram.com/p/BQYX7ruhOzH/; via Instagram Feb. 11, 2017, @ https://www.instagram.com/p/BQYX7ruhOzH/?taken-by=thomasnataas

For further information:

Gibbs, Walter. 3 May 2006. "3 Convicted, 3 Acquitted in Theft of Munch's Art." The New York Times > Art & Design.
Available @ http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/03/arts/design/03scre.html

Goldiner, Dave. 22 August 2006. "'The Scream' and 'Madonna' Paintings Were Stolen at Gunpoint from the Munch Museum in 2004." New York Daily News
Available @ http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/oslo-scream-team-pulls-museum-heist-article-1.597151

Hollington, Kris. 13 June 2005. "Master Plan." The Guardian > U.S. Edition > Arts > Art & Design > Art.
Available @ https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2005/jun/13/art.arttheft

Marriner, Derdriu. 4 August 2017. "Munch Museum Madonna Art Theft: FBI Crime Solved Within Two Years." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/08/munch-museum-madonna-art-theft-fbi-art.html

Friday, August 4, 2017

Munch Museum Madonna Art Theft: FBI Art Crime Solved Within Two Years

Summary: The Munch Museum Madonna art theft Aug. 22, 2004, panicked witnesses but proved solvable with paintings saved and perpetrators sentenced within two years.

"Madonna," Edvard Munch's 1894 oil on canvas stolen Sunday, Aug. 22, 2004, from Oslo's Munch Museum and recovered Thursday, Aug. 31, 2006: Google Art Project, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

August appeared on Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) top solved and unsolved art crimes lists with the Munch Museum Madonna art theft Aug. 22, 2004, and the painting's recovery Aug. 31, 2006.

Eyewitnesses bestowed almost an after-thought status to one of two black-masked gunmen breaking the wire to the 35.43- by 26.77-inch (90- by 68-centimeter) oil on canvas. Cameras, guards and visitors considered Skrik (The Scream) the cornerstone of the art crime calculated at $100 million (€83 million) in combined value with the Madonna. The all-dark attire, hooded tops and ski masks donned by the two gunmen dashed all hopes of the museum's closed-circuit television system detailing recognizable body features.

A bystander's camera elicited no clearer exposure of perpetrator identities even though it enabled police to establish perpetrator getaways in a black Audi A6 station wagon.

Munch Museum thieves carrying stolen artwork while another thief opens trunk of getaway vehicle, a black Audi A6; Associated Press handout photo taken Sunday, Aug. 22, 2004, by witness asking not to be identified: Mark Barry, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr

The internet furnished eyewitness accounts from newspaper articles about the perpetrators flourishing .357-Magnum handguns, forcing guards to the floor and fumbling with the paintings' flimsy attachments. Jorunn Christofferson, museum press officer, gave visitor-prioritized safety guidelines that "When they [perpetrators] threaten the guards with a gun there is not much to be done."

François Castang, French radio producer, held that "What's strange is that in this museum, there weren't any means of protection for the paintings, no alarm bell." As one of 50 to 80 visitors during the Munch Museum Madonna art theft, he indicated, "The paintings were simply attached by wire to the walls." He judged that "All you had to do is pull on the painting hard for the cord to break loose" and gunmen to jeopardize both masterpieces.

An exhibition, "Scream and Madonna Revisited," which ran from Friday, May 23, to Friday, Sep. 26, 2008, celebrated the stolen paintings' return and presented the restoration process; "Madonna," with worse damages, including a ripped canvas, than "The Scream," underwent further restoration after the exhibition ended; Saturday, Aug. 2, 2008, 01:51:12: Hans Dinkelberg (uitdragerij), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr

Brutal getaways knocked paintings off walls and out of their frames and kept them folded even though rolling also kindled such damages as chipped, loosened paint.

The armed intervention looked more lethal in the perpetrators' curtly lifting the paintings from the Oslo museum's walls than in their laden lumbering outside Tøyengata 53. It mustered up just minutes for the grab-and-go, in-and-out maneuver by maintaining the famous Edvard Munch (Dec. 12, 1863-Jan. 23, 1944) masterpieces upright in their frames. It nursed neither painting, less or more nicely with cutters, knives or razor blades, from their protective frames at no point inside or outside the museum.

Outrage to the Munch Museum Madonna art theft casualty, and to The Scream, occurred near a tennis court no more than one mile (1.61 kilometer) away.

Purloining paintings at 11:10 a.m. Central European Summer Time (9:10 a.m. Coordinated Universal Time) progressed to parceling frame pieces by 1:00 p.m. CEST (11:00 a.m. UTC).

Cut cords at the Munch Museum, destroyed frames on the street and the fire-gutted Audi near tennis courts quickened fears of violence to the stolen duo. Rumors raged regarding both paintings' destruction and resemble those relating to the still missing Caravaggio Nativity, Chácara do Céu Museum and Gardner Museum art theft casualties. Silence strengthened sorrowful suspicions since police solve the first Munch Madonna art theft March 29, 1990, by securing the Gallery Kunsthuset AS version within three months.

The Munch tribute to Dagny Juel-Przybyszewska (June 8, 1867-June 5, 1901) in his world-famous Madonna turned up two years after the Munch Museum Madonna art theft.

Munch's 1894 "Madonna" is back on display, with a protective glass, in Oslo's Munch Museum; Sunday, July 25, 2010: Jean-Pierre Dalbéra (dalbéra), 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:

"Madonna," Edvard Munch's 1894 oil on canvas stolen Sunday, Aug. 22, 2004, from Oslo's Munch Museum and recovered Thursday, Aug. 31, 2006: Google Art Project, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Edvard_Munch_-_Madonna_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg

Munch Museum thieves carrying stolen artwork to another thief at trunk of getaway vehicle, a black Audi A6; Associated Press handout photo taken Sunday, Aug. 22, 2004, by witness asking not to be identified: Mark Barry, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/markart/230875315/

Norwegian writer and model for Munch's "Madonna" Dagny Juel-Przybyszewska (June 8, 1867-June 5, 1901), in undated portrait, engraved by Berlin-based Meisenbach Riffarth, in Kiedy słońce zachodzi("When the sun goes down"; Warszawa: Jan Fiszer, MCMii [1902], frontispiece), translated from Norwegian and published (przełożył z Norweskiego i wydał) posthumously by Dagny's husband, Polish Decadent movement novelist, playwright and poet Stanisław Przybyszewski (May 7, 1868-Nov. 23, 1927): Public Domain, via Biblioteka Narodowa POLONA digital library @ https://polona.pl/preview/20b7facc-068c-4dcb-9b44-cf7f0c17a6f7; (image URL @ https://polona.pl/item-view/20b7facc-068c-4dcb-9b44-cf7f0c17a6f7?page=9);
Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dagny_Juel.jpg

Munch's 1894 "Madonna" is back on display, with a protective glass, in Oslo's Munch Museum; Sunday, July 25, 2010: Jean-Pierre Dalbéra (dalbéra), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/dalbera/4857491397/

For further information:

Fouché, Gwladys; Bowcott, Owen; and Henley, Jon. 23 August 2004. "A Blur of Balaclavas - and The Scream Was Gone Again." The Guardian > World > World News.
Available @ https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/aug/23/artsandhumanities.education

Gibbs, Walter. 3 May 2006. "3 Convicted, 3 Acquitted in Theft of Munch's Art." The New York Times > Art & Design.
Available @ http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/03/arts/design/03scre.html

Hollington, Kris. 13 June 2005. "Master Plan." The Guardian > U.S. Edition > Arts > Art & Design > Art.
Available @ https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2005/jun/13/art.arttheft

Mellgren, Doug. 1 September 2006. "Police Recover Stolen 'Scream.'" Deseret News.
Available @ http://www.deseretnews.com/article/645197872/Police-recover-stolen-Scream-painting.html

Montgomery, David. 23 August 2004. "Munch's 'Scream' Stolen in Brazen Raid." The Washington Post > Politics.
Available @ https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2004/08/23/munchs-scream-stolen-in-brazen-raid/fdb36e0d-b1ff-4b67-9519-9c273059343a/?utm_term=.b0cf66b2395a

"Scream Stolen from Norway Museum." BBC News > Europe > 22 August 2004.
Available @ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3588282.stm