Rather than quarantining, thieves plotted to steal a valuable Vincent Van Gogh painting from a museum in the Netherlands that was closed due to the nationwide lockdown. The theft took place on March 30th – the anniversary of the artist’s 167th birthday.
The painting that was stolen from The Singer Laren museum is The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in Spring (1884). According to The Art Newspaper, it “was on loan from the nearby Groninger Museum in Groningen.”
Based on local Dutch media, the painting is estimated to be worth between $1.1 million to $6.6 million.
According to police reports, the painting was stolen in the early hours of the morning of March 30th and seems to be the only item stolen from the thousands of arts in the museum.
The Deutsche Welle (DW), a media company in the Netherlands, says that the museum has around 3,000 pieces of artwork.
DW explains that “the museum houses the collection of American couple William and Anna Singer, with a focus on modernism such as neo-impressionism, pointillism, expressionism, and cubism. Works by Dutch abstract artist Piet Mondrian and Dutch-Indonesian painter Jan Toorop are housed there.”
The Netherlands has been under lockdown like most countries in the world due to the pandemic. As of the time of writing, it records 13,108 currently infected patients with 84% fatalities and only 16% recoveries.
In related news, as of April 2nd, the world has surpassed one million coronavirus cases.
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