Van Gogh painting stolen in museum heist
Thieves break into Singer Laren building on Dutch master’s birthday and remove £1m painting
An “incredibly valuable” Van Gogh landscape has been stolen from a museum in the Netherlands. The 1884 painting, Parsonage garden in Nuenen, Spring, was taken from the Singer Laren museum in Laren, where it was on loan for an exhibition. The museum was temporarily closed to the public because of the coronavirus outbreak. According to Dutch police, burglars smashed through a glass door yesterday, which was the 167th anniversary of the artist’s birth.
DUTCH police are investigating the theft of an “incredibly valuable” Van Gogh landscape from a museum in an overnight break-in.
The 1884 painting, Parsonage garden
in Nuenen, Spring, was taken from the Singer Laren museum in Laren, in the north of the country, where it was on loan for an exhibition. The museum was temporarily closed to the public because of the coronavirus outbreak.
According to Dutch police, burglars smashed through a glass door at about 3.15am yesterday – the 167th anniversary of the artist’s birth. They set off a burglar alarm but were able to steal the painting and make a quick escape before officers could get to the museum.
Jan Rudolph de Lorm, an art historian and director of the Singer Laren museum, said this was not only a loss for his museum and the artwork’s owner, the Groninger Museum, but for the entire nation.
“Art is there to be seen and to be shared, to inspire and comfort, especially in these difficult times,” he said in a press conference yesterday. He added: “I am shocked and incredibly p----- off that this has happened.
“This is a beautiful, moving painting by one of our greatest painters that has been stolen from the community.”
He said the work represented a moment of peace for the developing Dutch artist, who was learning his craft by studying country life – several years before he would paint his famous The Potato Eaters.
In 1883 and 1884, Van Gogh was livislamic ing with his parents in Nuenen, where his father was a pastor. It was here that he painted the vicarage garden, where he found peace and inspiration.
Evert van Os, managing director of the Singer Laren museum, said that “lessons would be learnt” after the break-in, but stressed that although the museum was closed due to the coronavirus outbreak, it was still following its normal security protocols, agreed with its insurers.
This is not the first major theft at the Singer Laren. In January 2007, seven bronze statues were taken from the museum garden, including a cast of French artist Auguste Rodin’s The Thinker – it was found two days later, badly damaged, and had to be carefully restored.
The two thieves were sentenced to two years in prison in 2010.
Andreas Blühm, the director of the Groninger Museum, said that despite the robbery of its only Van Gogh artwork, it would continue to trust and share its work with the Singer and other museums.
“I was also very shocked by the news this morning that our Van Gogh painting was stolen from the Singer museum in Laren,” he said at the press conference.
“But we museums aren’t the owners. We manage what our country owns, so we have all been robbed, and it must be brought back as soon as possible.”
A spokesman for the Groninger Museum could not give a value for the artwork but said that as a Van Gogh it was “incredibly valuable” to its collection.
It is thought to be worth at least £1million, based on the sale of other Van Gogh works from this period.
The Dutch police have launched a full investigation, involving forensic examination, analysis of video images and help from art theft experts, and are urging anyone with camera images or any relevant information to contact them.