Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Stolen Van Gogh Painting Recovered in Ikea Bag by Groninger Museum
ARTnews ^ | September 12, 2023 | Karen K. Ho

Posted on 09/12/2023 2:08:24 PM PDT by nickcarraway

Ikea bags transport a lot of things because of their large size, durability, and relatively low cost to consumers. But recently, the signature item from the Danish furniture and home goods retailer held a stolen painting by Vincent van Gogh, The Parsonage garden at Nuenen in Spring.

Three and a half years ago, the work was stolen from the Singer Laren museum in a smash-and-grab robbery while the institution was closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The 1884 painting had been on loan to the Singer Laren from the Groninger Museum voor Stad en Lande in the Netherlands.

Video security footage shared with the Guardian showed an individual breaking through the Singer Laren’s glass doors using a sledgehammer and leaving with the van Gogh.

Arthur Brand, a Dutch private art detective, recently negotiated the return of the Dutch Post-Impressionist’s oil on paper panel. Last weekend, Brand met with a contact in Amstelveld, a square in central Amsterdam, where the painting was handed over in the bright blue Ikea bag.

According to the Art Newspaper, which first reported the news, the individuals holding the Van Gogh work had hoped to use it to barter for the release of a prisoner. Brand’s operation was also done in cooperation with Dutch police.

In a video posted on Instagram on September 12, Brand excitedly holds the van Gogh panel and said he was planning to have a drink with all the Dutch police officers who worked on its recovery after handing it over to museum director Andreas Blühm.

The Parsonage garden at Nuenen in Spring was made early in van Gogh’s career, prior to his artistic breakthrough in France. It shows a brushy figure standing in a garden, with a church in the background. The painting was made during a brief period when van Gogh lived in the Dutch city of Nuenen, where the artist’s father served as a pastor in a parish. It is also the only van Gogh in the Groninger Museum’s collection.

In March 2021, a Dutch man was arrested at his home in the small town of Baarn near Utrecht, in connection to the theft as well as another art heist from the Hofje van Aerden museum in Leerdam, also in hte Netherlands. He was sentenced to eight years in prison for the robberies.

While the recovered van Gogh painting is “still in good condition,” the Groninger Museum’s press statement said the work had suffered and will be “scientifically investigated” in the coming months. The institution also said there was no estimate on when the painting would return to being on display. “It could take weeks, if not months.”

The current formal owner of The Parsonage garden at Nuenen in Spring is the insurance company after it paid out the work’s value after the theft in 2020. However, the museum said it has “the right to the first purchase and will of course use this right in order to show the work to the public again in its right place.”

“The Groninger Museum is extremely happy and relieved that the work is back,” Blühm said in a press statement. “It is currently in good company in the Van Gogh Museum. We are very grateful to our colleagues in Amsterdam for their hospitality. On behalf of the all our staff, all Groningen residents and visitors, we are very grateful to everyone who contributed to this good outcome. Arthur Brand played a key role in this case and the museum greatly appreciates that.”


TOPICS: Arts/Photography; Business/Economy; Weird Stuff
KEYWORDS: ai; art; artcrime; godsgravesglyphs; ikea; painting; vangogh

Did van Gogh use the medium of particle board.

1 posted on 09/12/2023 2:08:24 PM PDT by nickcarraway
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway
But recently, the signature item from the Danish furniture and home goods retailer

IKEA is Swedish, not Danish. That's why the stores are blue and yellow and they serve Swedish Meatballs instead of raspberry Danishes.
2 posted on 09/12/2023 2:15:28 PM PDT by Dr. Sivana ("If you can’t say something nice . . . say the Rosary." [Red Badger])
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway

“Did van Gogh use the medium of particle board.”

If rulers had existed in his day, his lines would have been straighter.


3 posted on 09/12/2023 2:16:48 PM PDT by BobL (I eat at McDonald's and shop at Walmart, I just don't tell anyone)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway
This one is a bit easier to digest. :O)


4 posted on 09/12/2023 2:17:00 PM PDT by Bounced2X (Boomer - I survived childhood with no bike helmet.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Dr. Sivana
Only 3% worldwide can tell the difference between Scandinavians.

To me, they are Jutland.

5 posted on 09/12/2023 2:20:45 PM PDT by nickcarraway
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway
In case anyone was wondering, I was.
Looks like it has multiple uses. Very environmentally friendly.


5 frakta Ikea BAGS sturdy for shopping or storage

6 posted on 09/12/2023 2:23:00 PM PDT by Bounced2X (Boomer - I survived childhood with no bike helmet.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: BobL
If rulers had existed in his day, his lines would have been straighter.

They had rulers, but it was only one per country...

7 posted on 09/12/2023 2:53:08 PM PDT by Smokin' Joe (Stand Fast! God knows what He is doing!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Smokin' Joe

And sometimes they weren’t straight...


8 posted on 09/12/2023 2:55:31 PM PDT by Billthedrill
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway

The bag contained a canvas and some oil paints. Some assembly was required.


9 posted on 09/12/2023 3:10:41 PM PDT by Larry Lucido (Donate! Don't just post clickbait!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway

10 posted on 09/12/2023 3:32:13 PM PDT by Libloather (Why do climate change hoax deniers live in mansions on the beach?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway

The “private art detective” probably does not use entirely legal techniques - that’s why he gets results. The police are constrained by having to follow the law, but if you want to get your painting back, this guy will get results.


11 posted on 09/12/2023 3:45:29 PM PDT by proxy_user
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway
Did van Gogh use the medium of particle board.

I think van Gogh was pretty poor and depended on his brother for money, so he painted on anything he could get his hands on.

BTW, this painting doesn't do much for me.

12 posted on 09/12/2023 3:54:09 PM PDT by libertylover (Our biggest problem, by far, is that almost all of big media is AGENDA-DRIVEN, not-truth driven.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


13 posted on 09/13/2023 9:47:48 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Putin should skip ahead to where he kills himself in the bunker.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson