Paradoxical as it may seem, high art breeds not only admiration for the beautiful, but also greed. The cost of the creations of the great masters is estimated at millions of dollars, which is why they disappear with enviable constancy. Some valuable exhibits can be found, and they are returned to museums and private collections. Many are still listed as missing, and substantial rewards have been promised for information about them. Here are 10 missing pieces of art that would make you fabulously rich if you knew where to find them.
"Charing Cross Bridge, London" by Claude Monet
The painting was stolen in the fall of 2012. One of the thieves convicted of the theft claimed to have burned it in his mother's oven. However, no convincing evidence confirming the words of the criminal was ever found, and the famous painting by Monet is still considered missing.
8 Faberge eggs
For the Russian imperial court, Carl Faberge's firm produced 52 eggs. Art objects at one time belonged to Alexander III and Nicholas II. In 1918, when the reign of the Romanov dynasty came to an end, and its last representatives were killed, the collection of Faberge eggs was confiscated. However, 8 of them disappeared without a trace. The loss of valuable jewelry, of course, did not go unnoticed. Now each missing Faberge egg is valued at more than $1 million.
"Christ during a storm on the Sea of Galilee", Rembrandt
The famed Dutch artist's only seascape painting was stolen in 1990. In 2013, the FBI believed they had identified her kidnappers. However, the location of the canvas has not yet been determined. Anyone with information about the painting will receive a $5 million reward.
"Righteous Judges" by Jan van Eyck
The sash "Righteous Judges" was part of the famous "Ghent Altar". In 1934 she was kidnapped. One of the residents of Ghent confessed to her theft, but he was dying and refused to reveal the secret of her whereabouts. Her, said the kidnapper, he would take with him to the grave. Probably the thief did just that. There are suggestions that the sash was destroyed, but its search continues to this day.
"Concert", Jan Vermeer
The reason for the disappearance of Vermeer's painting was the same theft that forever hid van Eyck's "Righteous Judges" from human eyes. The painting is worth approximately $200 million. That's probably why it was stolen.
"Girl at the open window", Paul Gauguin
The painting, painted by Gauguin in 1888, was stolen in Rotterdam in 2012. In addition to her, the thieves took with them 6 more paintings with a total value of 18 million euros. Although the two men responsible for the theft were caught, the 7 paintings they stole have not yet been found.
Dove with green peas, Pablo Picasso
All the creations of the Spanish artist are rated extremely highly, which is why they become the objects of attention of the kidnappers. "Dove with green peas" was among 5 paintings by Picasso stolen in 2010 from the Paris Museum of Modern Art. The total cost of the disappeared works of Picasso amounted to 100 million euros. The thief was caught. During interrogation, he claimed that he threw the paintings in the trash because he panicked. A very dubious story. Perhaps that is why the paintings are now listed as missing.
Violin Stradivarius
Like the work of Picasso, Stradivari instruments are very expensive. So, the violin, made by the master in 1727 and stolen in 1995, is estimated at 3 million dollars. Where she is is still unknown, and this is an extremely depressing fact. After all, there are only 650 original Stradivari instruments left in the world.
"The Flock Leaving the Reformed Church at Neunen" and "Sea View at Scheveningen" by Vincent van Gogh
Both paintings were stolen in 2002. Now their total cost is about 30 million euros. Of course, for information about the paintings of the great artist, the Vincent Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam offered an impressive amount. If you had information about them, you would become richer by 100 thousand euros. 
However, at the beginning of 2017, information appeared in the media that the canvases, among other valuables, were found in a mafia hideout in Naples. When they will return to Holland is still unknown.
The cultural heritage of mankind is the greatest works on which the best masters worked. Someone put their soul into paintings, and someone created ideal curves in the form of sculptures. Today, the best works of art are kept under protection in museums, and their value at auctions reaches tens of millions of dollars.
But sometimes there is a temptation to steal a masterpiece. Attackers do not always demand a ransom for it or sell it to private collectors. It happens that the creations of geniuses simply disappear. The police, collectors, bounty hunters are after them, but they can't find them. Here is a list of the most famous stolen works of art that remain lost.
Stradivarius violin by Davidoff-Morini. Possession of a Stradivarius violin for a musician is like possession of the Holy Grail. It is believed that this instrument has a high-quality and rich sound. Stradivari created an instrument that, even after centuries of use, has not lost its unique qualities. You just need to take care of these unique violins. It is believed that only about 650 original musical instruments from a medieval master have survived to this day. By the way, these are not only violins, but also violas, cellos, harps, guitars and mandolins. All museums consider it an honor to have at their disposal the creation of Stradivarius. There are his works not only in private collections, but in the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian Institution, the Stradivarius Museum in Cremona, Italy. And in October 1995, a unique creation of the master, dated 1727, was stolen from the apartment of the violinist Erica Morini in New York. The approximate cost of the rarity was three million dollars. The mistress herself died shortly after the robbery, unable to bear the bitterness of loss. However, at that time she was already 91 years old. And that theft is still on the FBI's list of the top 10 art crimes. The unique violin is listed as lost and no one knows where it is now.
Painting by Won Gogh "View of the sea at Scheveningen". On December 7 at about 8 am, a pair of unknown robbers climbed onto the roof of the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. From there, the thieves were able to get inside the premises. Out of all the variety of paintings, the attackers took only two: “View of the sea at Scheveningen” and “The flock leaving the reformist church in Neunen.” Van Gogh painted both works between 1882 and 1884. It is believed that at this time the artist created his best masterpieces. And the total cost of the paintings is about 30 million dollars. The official website of the museum says that Van Gogh painted this picture while in the beach resort of Scheveningen, not far from The Hague. The poor artist had to literally fight the weather - there was a strong gusty wind that lifted grains of sand into the air and made them stick to the paint. And although Van Gogh cleaned the sand from the paint, its remains can be found in some layers on the canvas. In 2004, two people were arrested on charges of theft. They were sentenced to 4.5 years in prison, but the paintings were never found. The museum announced a reward of 100,000 euros to those who give some information about the whereabouts of art objects.
Painting by Pablo Picasso "Dove with green peas". This theft turned out to be rather strange. The incident took place on May 20, 2010 in Paris, at about 7 am. Five paintings worth 100 million euros were stolen from the local Museum of Modern Art. One of them was Picasso's masterpiece "Dove with Green Peas", created in 1911. To get into the museum, the thief simply broke the window and broke the lock. The criminal turned out to be so dexterous that he managed not to cut out the paintings with a knife, but quickly and carefully pull them out of the frames. The surveillance camera showed that one single thief was operating, and not a whole gang. The police found someone who could be him. The thief was convicted in 2011. But he said that after the theft, he panicked and simply threw the paintings into the trash. The history is in doubt, and the paintings are still considered missing.
Painting by Paul Gauguin "Girl at the open window". This Gauguin masterpiece was created by him in 1888, and it was stolen relatively recently - in October 2012. The crime was committed at the Kunsthal Museum in Rotterdam, Holland. Along with the painting by Gauguin, six more paintings by such famous artists as Picasso, Monet, Matisse and Lucian Freud were missing. The thieves entered the museum at about 3 am. In just three minutes, they rushed through the museum, took seven paintings and left. The police who arrived at the scene just shrugged. The approximate value of the stolen masterpieces is 18 million euros. But already in November, the first suspect, Radu Dogaru, was arrested. He was sentenced to seven years in prison. On December 6, a second intruder, Adrian Prokop, was also arrested in Berlin. But the paintings were never found.
Painting by Jan Vermeer "Concert". One of the most famous masters of the 17th century is the Dutchman Jan Vermeer. Today, almost all of his paintings are in museums or the Royal Collection in London. One of the most famous paintings by Vermeer was the "Concert", created by him in 1664. The canvas depicts a couple of women and a man playing music in a dimly lit living room. As early as 1892, the Parisian art historian Theophile Thor sold the painting at auction on his estate to the famous philanthropist Isabella Gardner. So the "Concert" ended up in her personal museum, where it has been exhibited since 1903. And on March 18, 1990, a pair of thieves dressed as Boston police officers showed up at the museum, ostensibly on a call. Inside the museum, robbers stole 13 paintings, including a masterpiece by Vermeer, as well as paintings by Flinck, Degas and Rembrandt. These creations were never found, and the "Concert" is generally considered the most expensive lost painting in the world - its price is about $ 200 million.
Painting by Jan van Eyck "Fair Judges". This crime is dated April 10, 1934. Then at the exhibition, held in the Cathedral of St. Bavo in Belgian Ghent, Jan van Eyck's painting "Fair Judges" was stolen. This canvas itself was only a part of the altar painting "The Adoration of the Lamb", created back in 1426-1432. They stole only one part of 12 panels, while the robbers left a note. It was written in French that the painting had been taken from Germany by the Treaty of Versailles. And then an interesting correspondence began. For seven whole months, the Belgian government communicated through letters with a certain person who claimed that he had the painting and demanded a ransom. The thief was identified on November 25, it turned out to be the local eccentric politician Arsene Godertier. Already dying, he declared that only he knew where the picture was, but he would take this secret with him to the grave. Since then, there have been many versions about the whereabouts of the picture. And although many are inclined to believe that it was destroyed, it is still officially on the list of missing works of art.
Rembrandt's painting Storm on the Sea of Galilee. Together with the “Concert” by Jan Vermeer, this canvas also disappeared from the Boston Museum of Isabella Gardner. The painting is notable for being the only seascape painted by Rembrandt. "Storm" depicted the miracle of Christ when he calmed the Sea of Galilee. These events were described in the Gospel of Mark. The robbery itself was the largest in the art world, committed in America. In March 2013, the FBI called a special press conference where it was announced that the names of the perpetrators would be revealed. Criminal analysis showed that the whole organized organization stole the paintings, and not local loners, as previously thought. True, the authorities said that the investigation of the case is still ongoing, so it is too early to name names. Since then, no new data on the fate of the paintings have been received. And although more than 23 years have passed since the crime, the investigation is still ongoing. Authorities are offering a $5 million reward for information on the whereabouts of the paintings.
Painting by Claude Monet "Charing Cross Bridge, London". Between 1899 and 1904, the famous Impressionist Claude Monet painted a whole series of paintings dedicated to London's Charing Cross Bridge. They demonstrate the object at different times of the day, for which the artist used a wide color palette. The painting, created in 1901, was in Rotterdam and was stolen from the Kunsthal Museum in October 2012. One of the captured intruders claimed that he burned the Monet painting, like other stolen paintings, in his mother's oven. So the thief tried to hide the evidence. And although some pigments were indeed found in the furnace, there is no strong evidence of the words of the criminal and the destruction of the painting. Therefore, art historians are still hoping to find and return Monet's masterpiece.
Eight Imperial Faberge Eggs. Today, the Russian tsars are more often remembered in connection with the art objects that belonged to them. In particular, the collections of Imperial Faberge Eggs, created by him for Alexander III and Nicholas II, are highly valued. The representative of the House, Peter Karl Gustavovich Faberge, made the eggs real masterpieces of art, decorating them with precious stones. This work was carried out by the jeweler between 1885 and 1917. In total, the collection included 52 imperial eggs known to experts, along with which were exquisite jewelry, exquisite metal parts and complex gears, and screws for winding mechanisms. And in 1918, the new Bolshevik government allowed the looting of the House of Faberge and the royal palace in St. Petersburg. The eggs were confiscated and sent to the Kremlin. Over time, some of them ended up in the hands of private collectors, while others ended up in various museums around the world. The fate of eight such products has remained unknown since 1918, they were simply stolen. Today, each Faberge egg is valued at about a million dollars. Rumors connected the lost rarities either with Europe, or with the States, or even with South America.
Painting by Vincent van Gogh "The Lovers: The Poet's Garden IV". On October 21, 1888, the artist wrote a letter to his brother Theo about his latest work. In a vague sketch, the artist depicted a row of green cypress trees against a pinking sky, while the moon was drawn in the form of a pale lemon crescent. In the foreground of the canvas are vague soil, sand and several thistles. The picture also depicts a couple of lovers - a pale blue man in a yellow hat and a woman in a black skirt and pink corsage. In the same 1888, the picture was completed. But in the late 1930s, on the orders of Hitler, many "corrupted" works of art were seized from many private collections and museums. Among them was Van Gogh's painting "The Lovers: The Poet's Garden IV". In fact, Hitler wanted to create his own art collection, the largest in the world. For her, those very “perverted” works were intended. The Americans created a special military group, the "Monuments Men", which was designed to find in war-ravaged Europe and preserve cultural values. However, after the end of World War II, Van Gogh's masterpiece was never found.
Do you think it is possible to steal the Empire State Building - a 102-story skyscraper? It's impossible, you say. However, this actually happened. Did you know that da Vinci's famous Mona Lisa was also once stolen? Check out our 10 most daring thefts in history. Some of the stolen valuables have not yet been found.
10 PHOTOS
1. Mona Lisa.
One of the most daring thefts in history was the theft of the famous Mona Lisa painting by the great master Leonardo da Vinci from the Louvre. This happened in 1911. Vincenzo Peruggia worked as a glazier at the Louvre. One day he noticed that no one was guarding the painting and could not resist the temptation to steal it. Vincenzo went straight to the picture, removed it from the wall, got rid of the frame on the stairs, then hid the Gioconda under his coat and, as if nothing had happened, left the museum. For two whole years he kept it in his Paris apartment in a suitcase with a double bottom. The robber was caught while trying to sell a stolen painting in Italy. (Photo: Kenny (zoompict) Teo/flickr.com).
2. "Scream". The Scream by Edvard Munch is one of the most recognizable paintings in the world. She hangs next to the famous painting Mona Lisa and also became a victim of daring robbers. Munch lived from 1863-1944 and painted several versions of this famous portrait during his lifetime. In 2004, two masked armed men broke into the Munch Museum in Oslo and, threatening the guards with violence, grabbed the painting "The Scream" and ran out of the museum. For two years, nothing was known about the fate of the stolen work of art. Suddenly, the stolen painting was unexpectedly found, but under what circumstances - is silent. (Photo: BangsUndeveloped/flickr.com).
3. Dorothy's shoes from the movie "The Wizard of Oz." The red satin sequined shoes Dorothy (Judy Garland) sported in the famous 1939 film The Wizard of Oz are valued at $1-2 million. At one time, this pair - one of the four known "witch shoes" - could be seen at the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Michigan. In 2005, the shoes simply evaporated. No one saw anything and no one could tell how they disappeared. And although the investigators had two suspects, the case remained unsolved. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons).
4. Works of art from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. It was a theft the world had never seen. Rembrandt, Vermeer, Degas, Manet... priceless paintings have disappeared like a stone into water. In the photo: the famous painting "Concert" by Vermeer. (Photo: Mia Feigelson/flickr.com).
March 18, 1990. Early morning. Two men dressed as police officers enter the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. They must have known that the museum was not well guarded. The robbers easily tied up two inexperienced guards and gagged them. And then more than an hour (more precisely 81 minutes) they chose the paintings that they would take with them. The most valuable of the stolen paintings is the "Concert" by Vermeer - this is one of only 36 known works of the Dutch master, worth $ 250 million. In total, daring robbers stole 13 paintings worth at least five hundred million US dollars. What happened next with the paintings and where they are now, is still not known.
5. Empire State Building. Yes, yes, this huge 102-story building located in Manhattan in New York was also once stolen. True, it was not quite a real theft, but only a provocation. Two Daily News journalists forged documents confirming their ownership of this building in just 90 minutes. They presented the officials with a notarial deed, which was signed not by a real notary, but by the legendary bank robber Willy Saton. There was such a mess in municipal documents that no one noticed the catch. Journalists owned the luxurious building all day, and then they themselves admitted that they forged documents to show how easy it is to steal even a skyscraper in such confusion. (Photo: Vivienne Gucwa/flickr.com).
6. Saliere - golden Italian salt shaker. Saliere was made in the 16th century by Benvenuto Cellini, an Italian sculptor and jeweler, commissioned by the French King Francis I. According to experts, its market price is $65 million.
On the night of May 10-11, 2003, during the reconstruction of the facade of the Salière museum, they stole it. As it turned out later, the thief was a museum technician - Robert Manga. The museum has offered a €70,000 reward for helping find Salière. But they found her only three years later, buried in a metal box in a forest in Austria. Robert Mang, who committed the theft, claimed that he only wanted to prove the inefficiency of the security system in the museum, but the court did not believe him and sent him to jail for four years. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons).
7. The bell of the monks from Tacoma. Stealing a 1360-kilogram bell from a Buddhist monastery is a real audacity. The theft took place in Tacoma, Washington. The local police concluded that if the thieves were not superheroes with unearthly powers, then at least a forklift and a truck should have been used during the theft, and at least someone should have heard something. However, the thieves stole the huge bell so quietly that none of the monks heard anything suspicious. The inhabitants of the monastery were unable to assess the value of the stolen property, but for them, the bell made in Vietnam was priceless. It was found only three years later, when someone tried to sell it for scrap. The prospective buyer went straight to the police and thus caught the thieves. (Photo: Reuters).
8. "The biggest wardrobe in the world." It was the largest walk-in closet in the world, or so the media called it, and was owned by Teresa Roemer, 52, a businesswoman and former Miss Texas. The three-story dressing room was over 300 square meters. For 30 years, it has collected a large collection of expensive bags, Louboutin shoes, dresses and accessories worth more than $ 2 million.
In early August of this year, Mrs. Remer's wardrobe was stolen. When she and her husband were out, the robbers sneaked in through the bathroom window. As the owner herself later admitted, she forgot to close the window and turn on the alarm. The thieves stole not only designer clothes and accessories, but also a medallion with a lock of hair from Teresa Roemer's dead son. The investigation is still ongoing, and the perpetrators are still walking free. (Photo: Press releases).
9. Dinosaur bones. Four years ago, news stories around the world reported that a Florida-born man named Eric Prokopi stole dinosaur skeletal bones from Mongolia, valued at $1 million. He even managed to ship the bones to the US, but got caught trying to sell them at auction. Surprisingly, the offender received a very lenient sentence - only a month in prison. Dinosaur bones have been returned to Mongolia. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons).
10. Violin Davidoff-Morini Stradivari. This case was included in the top 10 art thefts compiled by the FBI. In October 1995, a Stradivarius violin from 1727 was stolen from the apartment of renowned violinist Erica Morini, valued at $3.5 million. It is still not clear why someone stole it, since it is impossible to sell it, since there is no black market for such antiques. What makes the theft all the more daring and tragic is that Erica Morini was at home at the time. She died during the attack, she was 91 years old. The case of the missing Davidoff-Morini Stradivarius violin has not yet been solved. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons).
The most famous painting abductions October 22nd, 2012
On Tuesday night, 7 masterpieces were stolen from the Kunstel Museum in Rotterdam, including paintings by Picasso, Mastissa, Monet and Gauguin.
This robbery was the largest robbery that took place in Holland in the last 20 years. One of the paintings is famous "Waterloo Bridge" Claude Monet. Thieves sometimes use the most incredible ways to commit their crimes. Learn about the most famous painting thefts.
1) Abduction "Mona Lisa" Leonardo da Vinci
More than a hundred years ago, Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece "Mona Lisa" became the most famous painting in the world after it was stolen from a museum Louvre in Paris on August 21, 1911.
Stolen by a certain Vincenzo Peruggia, who claimed to have fallen in love with the Mona Lisa as soon as he looked into her eyes, the painting sat in his kitchen for two years. "La Gioconda", another name for this unique painting, became a worldwide sensation. The notoriety was helpful in finding the painting, as it was impossible to sell it to any collector willing to shell out.
Peruggia, a Parisian worker who once worked at the Louvre, simply pulled the painting off the wall the day the museum closed and left the building, hiding the masterpiece under his clothes. Although the thief claimed he stole the painting for patriotic reasons, the prospect of making a ton of money from the sale of the painting was the true motive behind the theft. The Italians, of course, never forgot about the origin of the painting, so they actively advocated returning the painting to Florence. This robbery became one of the most famous painting thefts in history.
2) The Most Successful Picture Thief
Stefan Breitwieser is arguably the most successful art thief in history, at least it could be called until he was caught.
A waiter, self-taught art historian and traveler, Brightwieser stole a total of 239 pieces between 1995 and 2001, worth $1.4 billion.
He was caught in November 2001 right at the scene of a crime in Lucerne, Switzerland. According to the press, after Breitviser's arrest, his mother burned more than 60 stolen masterpieces.
For his crimes, Brightviser received 3 years, but served only 26 months in prison, and his mother was convicted as an accomplice and spent 18 months in prison.
3) The largest robbery of the American Museum of Art
On March 18, 1990, thieves dressed as police officers entered Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston and committed the largest robbery in US history, which has not yet been solved. The thieves handcuffed the night watchmen of the museum under the pretext that they had a warrant for their arrest.
Despite the fact that they were captured by security cameras and detected by motion sensors, the criminals stayed at the crime scene for 81 minutes and no one stopped them. According to some estimates, the value of one of the stolen paintings was $200 million. This "Concert" Jan Vermeer, written in the second half of the 17th century.
Also among the 13 stolen masterpieces was a painting by Rembrandt "Storm on the Sea of Galilee". The cost of all the stolen paintings was estimated at 300 million dollars, however, some experts argued that these paintings could be worth much more.
Many of the paintings were cut out of their frames, which led investigators to assume that the perpetrators did not really understand something about art.
4) Robbery of the Munch Museum in Oslo
On 22 August 2004, masked armed men entered the Munch Museum in Oslo, Norway, and stole two paintings by Edvard Munch "Scream" And "Madonna". The masterpieces were found by the police in 2006, and each of the paintings showed signs of damage, so it took another 2 years for their restoration before they returned to their place in the museum.
"The Scream" is the most famous painting by the artist and one of the most recognizable in the world. Its cost is 82 million dollars, according to the publication The Telegraph.
5) Robbery of a museum in Zurich
In February 2008, armed men broke into the museum Collection of the Emil Bührle Foundation in Zurich, Switzerland and stole 4 masterpieces worth $140 million. This is the largest theft of works of art in Swiss history.
Painting "Poppy field near Vetheuil" Claude Monet was one of the stolen paintings (pictured). Also, the criminals took away such masterpieces as Ludovic Lepic and his daughters Edgar Degas, "Blossoming Chestnut Branches" Vincent van Gogh and "The Boy in the Red Vest" Paul Cezanne.. Paintings by Van Gogh and Monet were quickly discovered by the police and returned to the museum, the rest disappeared without a trace.
6) Robbery of the Stedelek Museum in Amsterdam
On May 21, 1988, thieves smashed the first floor window of the Stedelek Museum in Amsterdam, Holland and stole 3 paintings worth $52 million, according to the Associated Press. Today, the cost of these paintings is $ 100 million, adjusted for inflation.
This robbery was the largest in Dutch history, but fortunately, the paintings were discovered after 2 weeks, when the criminals made an attempt to sell the booty.
One of the most famous and recognizable paintings of the Van Gogh series "Sunflowers"(second version, 1889) was one of the stolen works.
7) Museum robbery in Rio de Janeiro
"Luxembourg Garden" Henri Matisse was one of the paintings stolen from the Museum of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. On February 24, 2006, when the whole city was resting during the annual Carnival, four gunmen robbed the museum and fled with works by famous artists such as Salvador Dali, Pablo Picasso and Claude Monet.
The paintings have yet to be found, and their value has never been determined, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
8) The Abduction of the "Madonna with a Spindle" by Leonardo da Vinci
"Mona Lisa"- not the only painting by Leonardo da Vinci, which was once laid eyes on the robbers. In August 2003, criminals disguised as ordinary tourists visited Drumlanrig Castle in Scotland and took the painting with them. "Madonna with a spindle", hiding in a Volkswagen Golf car. The castle museum houses famous paintings by artists such as da Vinci, Rembrandt and Hans Holbein with a total value of about 650 million dollars.
The canvas of Leonardo, written by the famous artist 500 years ago, is estimated at 65 million dollars. Fortunately, it was discovered 4 years later in Glasgow. 4 people were arrested and convicted for involvement in the crime.
9) Robbery of the National Museum in Stockholm
December 22, 2000 from National Museum in Stockholm, Sweden, paintings by Pierre Auguste Renoir disappeared "Young Parisian" And "Conversation with the gardener" as well as Rembrandt's self-portrait. Three men, one of whom threatened the guard with a machine gun, managed to escape with the famous canvases in just a few minutes.
According to reports BBC News, the police suspect that the robbers were assisted in the commission of this crime. At a time when a crime was being committed in the museum, the police were distracted by a call about a car on fire, and just at the moment when the alarm went off in the museum.
"Conversation with the gardener" was unexpectedly discovered during a roundup of drug dealers, and two other paintings were found in 2005. According to the FBI, the total cost of these three paintings is $30 million.
10) Robbery of the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam
Robbery Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam (Holland) in April 1991, as a result of which as many as 20 paintings were stolen, it can be called the fastest discovered theft of paintings in history. All works were found 35 minutes later in the kidnappers' car, the paper said. New York Times.
The robbers committed the crime after they hid in the museum after it closed. At around 3:00 a.m., they emerged from their hiding place wearing stocking masks with cutouts for the eyes to hide their identities.
Among the stolen paintings was a painting "Potato Eaters" Van Gogh from his early work. The total value of all stolen paintings is about $500 million. Unfortunately, almost all the paintings were damaged, especially three of them.
Surprisingly, the fact that art was stolen straight from a museum is not a plot from an old movie or a classic detective story. Unfortunately, these are the realities of today: half the most valuable stolen paintings were abducted in the late XX - early XXI centuries. Despite heavy security, surveillance cameras and alarms, criminal talents still manage to perform such “feats” today. In our review - the most expensive paintings stolen and still not found.
In 2010, a theft took place in France, which was called the “robbery of the century”: a robber took out 5 paintings from the Paris Museum of Modern Art, breaking the window bars. Among the stolen paintings were paintings by Matisse, Picasso, Braque, Modigliani, Léger. A year and a half later, the police managed to find both the customer and the artist, but the paintings disappeared without a trace: the customer claimed that he had destroyed them when he discovered that he was being followed. Picasso's "Dove with Green Peas" was the most expensive among the missing - its value is estimated at $ 28 million.
Van Gogh can be called the most favorite artist of the robbers - several of his paintings have already disappeared without a trace. In 2002, two paintings worth $30 million each were stolen from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam - "Exit from the Protestant Church in Nuenen" and "Sea View in Scheveningen". The thieves entered the museum through the roof. Two suspects were detained a year later, but the paintings were not found on them.
And in 2010, Van Gogh's "Poppies" ("Vase of Flowers") worth about $50 million was stolen from the Mohammed Mahmoud Khalil Museum in Cairo in broad daylight. Of the 43 CCTV cameras, only 7 worked, and the alarm was turned off. At the same time, only 10 visitors visited the museum from the moment of opening until the discovery of the loss. The same painting was already stolen in 1978, but then the thief was found and returned to the museum. This time, none of the stolen paintings have yet been found.
High-profile crimes happened in the twentieth century. One of them was the theft of 13 paintings from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston in 1990. The thieves dressed up as police officers, tied up the guards, locked them in the basement and carried out canvases, among which was the painting “Storm on the Sea of Galilee” by Rembrandt van Rijn and the painting by Vermeer “ Concert". These two works are now called the most expensive of the stolen, the cost of each - $ 500 million.
Many paintings disappeared during World War II, when the Nazis confiscated paintings from museums and private collections. Raphael's painting "Portrait of a Young Man", taken from the Polish Czartoryski Museum in 1939, disappeared without a trace. At the moment, this is one of the most expensive missing paintings - it is estimated at $ 100 million.
A sad fate awaited Caravaggio's painting "Nativity with Saints Francis and Lawrence": in 1969 she disappeared from the chapel of San Lorenzo in Palermo. The Sicilian mafia was accused of the theft; in 2009, one of the defendants admitted in court that the painting was kept in a barn, where it was gnawed by rats and pigs. After that, a masterpiece worth $20 million was burned. However, this version has not been confirmed or refuted.
top 10 most expensive paintings in the world.
