High Profile Art Theft in Zurich
An extremely high profile art theft in Zurich, Switzerland of valuable Impressionist artwork worth an estimated $164 million (U.S.) begs the question: what’s so valuable about artwork? The Zurich heist took famous works by Degas, Cezanne, van Gough, and Monet, a veritable who’s who of Impressionist art.
The paintings were from a collection of Emil Buehrle, a Swiss industrialist who was controversial for selling weapons to Nazi Germany during World War II.
Degas is famous for his paintings of ballerinas and his interesting use of subjects. The piece stolen was called ” Viscount Lepic and His Daughters” and has Degas’ famous use of fabrics and red cheeked faces.
Cezanne is famous for his landscapes, though his stolen painting “The Boy in the Red Vest” uses his characteristic use of unexpected color, only on a human subject.
Monet, most famous for his paintings of the French countryside and for his water lillies, used his style of paint texture and unexpected lighting in his stolen painting “Poppies near Vetheuil,” a countryside scene.
Van Gough, famous for his various subjects, uses his characteristic brush motions in the beautiful but simple “Blossoming Chestnut Branches,” where the motion and unexpected forms compliment the seemingly simple subject.
This is not the only time high profile art as gone missing. In a 2006 article, Playboy magazine mentions the high profile theft of Edvard Munch’s “The Scream,” a famous work of expressionist painting and a worldwide favorite. These men entered the museum, also in broad daylight much like the Zurich thieves, and took the valued painting. Munch produced several copies and lithographs of “The Scream,” and all but one of those paintings are owned by the Oslo museum that housed the painting.
These thefts, coupled with the recent theft of two Picasso paintings, underscore that the world of black market fine art is alive and well, though their intentions are unclear. Selling these paintings on the market will garner police attention. Some speculate that these paintings are being used to buy drug, guns, or other black market contraband since there’s little movement for private collectors to buy stolen art.
A sizable reward is being offered for the recovery of the Zurich paintings. Unfortunately, only about 1 in 5 stolen paintings is ever recovered.
[...] In a surprising turn of events, two of the paintings recently stolen in Zurich, Switzerland were recently recovered. Van Gough’s “Blooming Chestnut Branches,” and Monet’s “Poppy Field at Vetheuil” were found in a car close to the crime scene. The four men who robbed the museum are still at large. The other two paintings, Degas’s “Ludovic Lepic and his Daughter” and Cezanne’s “Boy in the Red Waistcoat” are still missing. [...]
Two Stolen Paintings Found from Zurich Art Theft « JolieSimons.com
February 19, 2008 at 3:05 pm