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  • TUESDAY MAY 2 2006 11:00 PM

Munch Thieves Punished, No Munch Paintings Found

Submitted by Christopher

Edited by Christopher

Of six men, three have been convicted of the theft of Edvard Munch’s “The Scream” and “Madonna.” The remaining three were acquitted in a Norwegian court.

They faced various charges relating to the theft of the paintings on 22 August 2004 from the Munch Museum in Oslo.

The three convicted men received prison sentences of between four to eight years for their role in the theft.

Five of the men had been charged with planning or taking part in the daylight robbery, and the sixth had been accused of handling stolen goods.

Judge Arne Lyng sentenced Bjoern Hoen to seven years for planning the robbery, Petter Tharaldsen to eight years in prison for driving the getaway car and Petter Rosenvinge received four years for supplying the vehicle.

Hoen and Tharaldsen were also ordered to pay 750m kroner (£66.3m) compensation to the City of Oslo to reflect the value of its lost paintings.

Stian Skjold, 30, who had been accused of being one of the two robbers; Morten Hugo Johansen, 39; and Thomas Nataas, 35, accused of handling stolen goods, were acquitted.


The paintings have not been recovered, but I imagine they're hanging in an organized crime boss’ living room. One silver lining in this whole thing is that these paintings are in circulation, which from a collector's perspective is really exciting. The bane of the antiquity collector is the museum because they remove artifacts from circulation forever.

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Comments
PointBlank

PointBlank

New York, NY
November 2004

MAY 03, 2006 11:47 AM

For the record, what I'm complaining about is the statement that there is some sort of silver lining in this story. The fact is: No one will probably ever see these paintings again, just like no one has ever seen the Gardner Museum paintings since they were stolen.

To suggest that it's somehow better for art to be in the hands of private collectors rather than museums is sort of silly. Museums are not the "Bane of collectors" at all...they are another part of the collecting process, one that drives the economy of collecting art at least as much as any other factor.

I'd also suggest that the majority of art theft occurs when the art is in private galleries.

[Edited on May 03, 2006 by PointBlank]

MrDaft

MrDaft

Vancouver, BC
January 2005

MAY 03, 2006 11:50 AM

Christopher said:

PointBlank said:
WTF are you talking about? That is one of the worst comparisons I've ever heard. The most valuable and rare baseball cards are ones THAT THE "CHILDREN" WILL NEVER HAVE. The serious art collector is just like the rich baseball card collector--the sort of person who keeps the best collectables out of the hands of the regular collectors. Shit, I'm not sure about you, but I'd rather see the Munch painting hanging in a museum where ANYBODY can see it, rather than being in some rich guys house, where its only for him and his family. Stop acting like art thefts are some sort of good thing. Geez.

Not to mention the fact that in no way are these painting "in circulation"


[Edited on May 03, 2006 by PointBlank]


Art collectors are always sharing their collections outside of their families. And unless a painting is über-famous, it's in storage. And unless they're Scrooge McDuck, collectors are eager to share their pieces.

As far as seeing a Munch painting in a museum, because the museum didn't provide adequate security, tracking, or recovery of the piece NO ONE will see it.
I think that the theft of these piece are terrible and four to eight years in jail isn't nearly enough for these assholes, but in my opinion they would have been easier to track and harder to steal if they were in private hands.



Book of Judas was in storage too when it fell apart. wink
Private collectors for the most part have no better a security than a museum would.
I doubt that if it were in private hands they would have been easier to track and harder to steal. I do believe that it would be the opposite. Harder to track and easier to steal. They would only be known to a limited market then. It would be easier to fence them.

As well on one of the other art thefts in the past they just left the paintings in the basement. How do we know that didn't happen this time?

MrDaft

MrDaft

Vancouver, BC
January 2005

MAY 03, 2006 11:52 AM

PointBlank said:
For the record, what I'm complaining about is the statement that there is some sort of silver lining in this story. The fact is: No one will probably ever see these paintings again, just like no one has ever seen the Gardner Museum paintings since they were stolen.

To suggest that it's somehow better for art to be in the hands of private collectors rather than museums is sort of silly. Museums are not the "Bane of collectors" at all...they are another part of the collecting process, one that drives the economy of collecting art at least as much as any other factor.


I am agreeing on that part PB. I think the thought of the robbery is mind blowing, in a real life ocean's eleven type of thing.

But the fact that the art will most likely never be seen again is quite frustrating.

PointBlank

PointBlank

New York, NY
November 2004

MAY 03, 2006 11:55 AM

Two more things:

1) The Munch show on exhibit at MOMA right now is great. Two more weeks, kids!

2) There are a couple more copies of the scream out there, this wasn't the most famous version. You can still get your fill of existensial dread!

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